Harry Potter & the Amorae Potion
by Jiffer
Summary: (DEAD) After accidently drinking a Love Potion, Harry finds that there's more to fear in life then just Voldermort as all the females in Hogwarts begin to fall head over heels in love with him.
1. A Very unHermione Hermione

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Harry Potter & the Amorae Potion

By Jiffer

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Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

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Chapter 1- A Very _un_Hermione Hermione

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It was looking to be a peaceful day. A day like any other... or so Harry had thought. Actually, if he had known what was going to happen to him that day, he probably would have jumped on his Firebolt and flew off into Hogsmeade and never returned to Hogwarts ever again. Forget graduating. After what he was going to be put through, he'd be lucky if he would be able to look at himself straight in the mirror again. 

But to continue on.…

Harry Potter unfortunately **didn't** know what was going to happen to him today and he wasn't very worried about it, truth be told. To him, it was just another day of snore-worthy History of Magic class with Professor Binns. Then there would be boring Double Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts with Dumbledore (since no one else could be found for the job), followed by boring Divination with Professor Trelawney, who would be just as persistent as ever to predict his "impending" death.

Yawning to himself slightly, Harry twirled his bag of books casually in his hand a bemused smile on his face. He was standing outside of the Great Hall, waiting with increasing impatience for Colin Creevy to return with his promised drink. He checked his watch worriedly. He had only a little while until he had to be in his first period class. Colin really needed to hurry if he planned on making it on time. 

Now, dear readers, don't think that Harry is getting overly conceited and ordering his faithful followers around. Oh no! Of course he's not! The main characters in the story are never conceited. No, rather, Colin forced Harry to allow him to go get him a drink in the Great Hall. Harry had very little to say about it. But now that he was waiting, Harry really **did** wish he'd hurry up. He hadn't had anything to eat or drink all morning. Leave it to Snape to land him a whole three feet of parchment essay that had taken him all night long to finish. It was no small wonder he had slept in and missed out on breakfast. 

As if on cue, it was then that Ginny Weasley entered the hallway, coming from the Great Hall with a large glass of, what looked like to be to Harry, Pink Limonade in her hand. When she saw Harry, who was eyeing her drink greedily, she flustered and skipped over to him quickly. 

"Oh hi, Harry!" she chirped. The glass of limonade glinted temptingly in the floating candlelight. "Colin told me to--"

"He couldn't make it, huh? Well, no matter" Harry interrupted. "Well thanks for the drink, Ginny!" And with that, he snatched the refreshing beverage from Ginny's hand, not noticing the look of utter shock written clearly on the poor red head's face.

"But--"

He gulped down the supposed "limonade" with greedy thirst, smacking his lips when it was gone. 

It was only until after he taken his last swallow did Harry just realize how weird and bizarre this limonade tasted. Actually, if he didn't know any better, he'd swear it wasn't limonade at all! Feeling suddenly sick, Harry dropped the glass in surprise and began to cough loudly. Clinching his throat he began to wheeze as the odd liquid (which tasted very similar to ketchup, with some horseradish, gravy, and perhaps a dash of cinnamon all mixed together) began to burn at his throat. Her legs suddenly began to feel a great deal wobbly.

Ginny ran over to him. Her wide brown eyes were fixed in alarm on him as she grabbing his arm to support him. "Oh, Harry, I'm sorry!" she stammered apologetically as he started to keel over to her right. "I tried to stop you! That wasn't meant for you to drink! I was bringing it to Professor Dumbledore's Defense Against the Dark Arts class. It's an Amorae potion Snape made." 

Ginny's attempts to help Harry weren't much helping his situation as she kept on accidentally stepping on his toes, causing him to jump up and down in pain. "W-What... is an A-Amorae potion?" he gasped, trying to dodge her feet. 

Tears spring into Ginny's eyes. She stepped hard on one of his toes again. "Oh, Harry! It's a _love_ potion!" she sobbed.

**__**

"A WHAT?!" Harry shouted. 

"Harry, I'm sorry. I tried to tell you!"

Harry swallowed a few times and tried to shake the dizziness out of his eyes. He cursed himself silently for his stupidity. Hadn't he learned already from being in Hogwarts **NOT** to drink things before investigating? 

"It's ok, Ginny," he said as steam began to flood out of his ears. "It was, was my fault for being thick. Do me a favor though and go get Professor Dumbledore, alright? I think I'm going to be sick."

"Sure! Of course!" Ginny said at once. She hesitated. "Could you j-just not go anywhere until I return for you?"

Harry shot her a suspicious glance. "Why?" he asked. 

A red glow spread along Ginny's face. She no longer seemed capable of looking at Harry. "Uh, well, um, the effects of the potion could get you into trouble some, that's all," she muttered quickly.

This worried Harry some. He tried to meet Ginny's eyes. "What do you mean?" he demanded. "What kind of love potion is this anyway?" 

"It's……A bad one," Ginny stated mysteriously, evading his glance.

"**How** bad?"

"Oh... oh it's pretty bad. As bad as they can get really."

"And what does it--"

Ginny looked down at her wrist. "Oops! Dear me, would you look at the time!" she exclaimed. "Got to run and get Dumbledore while he's still in his office!"

"But--"

"See ya then, Harry!" 

Before he could question her further, Ginny let go of his arm, turned, and raced off down the hallway at top speed, nearly running into a suit of armor that was taking a stroll down the hall. It flipped around as she flew past it and toppled over with a deafening crash, leaving bits and pieces of itself all over the floor. It shouted loud curses at her as she scrambled up the stairs towards Dumbledore's office, out of sight. 

As the armor started getting up and began to try and piece itself together, while still shouting unpleasant obscenities, one of it's sole hands lying on the ground near a window flashed inappropriate jesters where Ginny had disappeared. Harry, meanwhile, had fallen to the ground without the extra support of Ginny helping him. He gritted his teeth and, using the wall as a prop, managed to get back on his feet. He turned back towards the Great Hall entrance and frowned in displeasure. 

He felt as if there were tidle waves crashing around in his stomach. It was an unpleasant feeling, to say the least, but at least the bad after taste of the potion was dying down some. His stomach was slowly starting to become less painful, too. At least the sharp pen pricks of pain in his sides had stopped. He sighed and tried to collect his thoughts. He wondered what kind of potion he had drank, anyway. He hoped it hadn't changed any of his features at all. His mind sidled back to the Polyjuice potion Hermione had made illegally his second year.

Worried, he felt around his face, making sure everything was normal. Well, his nose and eyes were still there, and there weren't any boils or other unpleasant things on his skin. His fingers traced around the small lightning bolt scar on his forehead. It surprisingly caused him some comfort. 

"Hello there, Harry, Colin asked me to bring this to you. What are you doing out here anyway? Ron's already left for class."

Harry looked over at a bushy haired youth approaching him. Harry's eyes lit up hopefully at Hermione. Perhaps she could fix all this. Hermione **was, **after all, the brainiest student in Hogwarts and she was bound to have some sort of knowledge of how to reverse the affects of the Amorae Potion…. Whatever they might be…. 

Hermione went up to him with a glass of Pumpkin juice in her hands. As soon as Harry caught sight of it, a slight queasiness in his stomach over took him, and his face turned a nasty shade of green. The awful taste of the Amorae potion returned to him again.

The greeting smile on Hermione's face dropped. She eyed him worriedly. "Are you ok, Harry?" she asked sharply. "You look sick."

__

"Uurrggh," was the only noise Harry could make. His stomach plummeted, and bile threatened to rise up in his throat while his head began to swim. '_ Damn this stupid potion!' _he thought dizzily. '_I think I'm going to throw up.'_

Hermione swiftly caught Harry's arm to steady him as he began to swoon. "What's wrong with you, Harry?" she demanded shrilly. "Why are you--" 

"It's this stupid potion," Harry muttered, his words slurring together under Hermione's arm.

"It's a what?" Hermione asked. "A potion, Harry? Is that what you said? What kind of-"

She then suddenly stopped.

A strange look swept over her face. The alarm in her eyes dimmed and her eyelids sank. She released her hold on Harry which caused him to collapse on the ground again. Harry cursed loudly and rubbed his head. He looked up at her in annoyance and was about to say something scathing when she noticed her smiling.

"Uh, Hermione?" he began.

Hermione's lips curved up in a creepy way. "You know Harry," she said softly. "I've never noticed before, but you really are quite handsome." Her voice was a purr and so unlike Heromione that Harry was taken completely by shock.

"Er, wha'wa'sat?" Harry stammered.

Hermione's response was to advance on him. She carelessly dropped the glass she was holding onto the floor, without noticing the loud noise it made as it shattered. The juice sprayed the ends of Harry's robes. She gracefully bent over and reached for Harry's shoulder as he tried to back away from her; the disturbingly sweet, seductive smile still planted on her face.

"H-Hermione? Are you mad? Stop... I ... now... Hermione, what about Ron? What are... **_Hey get off me!"_** Harry struggled wildly from Hermione as she suddenly latched her arms on his neck. He grabbed them and tried to pull her off, but she landed on top of him causing him to teeter back. 

Harry felt pain shoot up his elbow as it smacked hard against the stone floor. He didn't have much time to concentrate on the pain much though for Hermione suddenly made a move toward his face. Her lips missed his by inches as he rolled away just in time. She tried again to kiss him, but Harry barely managed to evade her. With each miss she was becoming much more persistent, almost violent. 

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Harry demanded. Quickly he tried to pull his robes Hermione was ripping at from her grasp and to push her away, but she made a very cat like hiss and clung even more stubbornly onto him.

Harry was getting desperate now, wondering if it would be counted against him if he got out his wand and put the Leg-locker curse on her. What was wrong with her anyway? Harry had never seen Hermione look so scary before. Was it something she ate? Had she been drinking, perhaps? Or was it maybe…..

Harry thought back to the frightened look in Ginny's face. _"Oh... oh it's pretty bad. As bad as they can get really," _she had said when addressing the Amorae Potion. But surely it wasn't this potent?…. was it?

"Alright, Hermione," Harry said. "You've had your fun. Now let's just get off me now before some one sees us.... **No** Hermione!**_ Will you leave that alone!"_** He yanked his collar out of her grasp violently as she tried to pull his robes away from him.

It was then a voice suddenly screeched out from in front of them**_. "Harry! Hermione! What do you think you are doing?" _**

Ok, apparently Ron _hadn't _left for classes yet. Mustering up his courage, Harry raised his head and looked up at Ron. He cringed at the look of absolute horror and fury written on his face. He was positively turning purple with rage. 

"N-n-now Ron!" Harry protested. He could only imagine how this all must look to him. He held his only free hand up towards Ron warningly. "I-It's not what it looks like!" 

Taking advantage of Harry being distracted, Hermione rapidly attacked Harry's neck, passionately kissing it up and down. 

Ron's eyes bulged. "Like hell it isn't!" he shouted furiously. "Get your disgusting self off my girlfriend!" 

"Gladly! If she'd get off me first, that is!" Harry tired once more to force Hermione , but she seemed very keen on remaining right where she was.

She let out a most inopportune giggle that made Ron's face light up red with fury.

"You're really asking for it now, Harry!" he growling.

"But..but..." 

Ron lunged at the two, pulling Hermione off Harry by the waist, her hissing and scratching the whole way. 

"Ron, j-just let me explain this!" Harry pleaded. "It's the limonade… I mean that Ginny... a love potion that is, I--"

Ron landed a hard punch right in Harry's stomach, knocking the wind out of him before he could finish. The tidal waves suddenly became hurricanes, and they left Harry completely immobile.

Seeing Harry hurt, Hermione gave a yowl of anger and jumped at Ron, knocking him on top of Harry, who was trying to get his breath back by leaning over with his hand on his chest. When Ron fell back against him, he went flying back into the floor, hitting his head on the hard surface and smacking his elbow again. 

He blacked out for a few seconds before returned sharply to reality as Ron, Hermione, became engaged in a great fight on his head. Ron seemed to be trying to hold Hermione arms to keep her from attacking him, but as soon as he got a firm grip on them, her legs shot up and pound him hard in the sides. As soon as he'd let go of her arms to take care of her legs, Hermione'd then start attacking his eyeballs, scratching at them with her nails. Harry was mainly just doing everything in his power to keep Ron off him as well as Hermione. He thought of his wand and attempted to reach for it when another voice broke through the fighting.

"Well, well, well, what have we here?" it drawled lazily.

All three once friends momentarily stopped their fight, each one engaged in very awkward positions, and looked up at the producer of the voice. 

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	2. McGonagall's Enterance

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Chapter 2- Harry Potter Action Figures?

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"Well, well, well, what have we here?" the voice drawled lazily.

All three once friends momentarily stopped their fight, each one engaged in very awkward positions, and looked up at the producer of the voice.

It was Malfoy being shadowed closely by his two ever-present sidekicks Crabbe and Goyle. His face was set in scornful delight as he surveyed them coldly, his mouth a taunting smirk. "My, my such vulgar behavior! What you Gryffindors do in public!" He shook his head in pretend disgust. His Prefect badge flashed on his chest as he walked closer to them.

Ron had grabbed onto Harry's neck during the fight, but let go when he saw Malfoy. "Shove off, Malfoy!" he snarled while Harry gasped in relief.

"Oh dear me, violent too. What ever will Dumbledore think of all this?" Malfoy's eyes met Harry's, and his smirk widened. 

"You probably should pull your robe back on, Potter. Just imagine what people would think if they saw you three this instant. Why, you could be expelled." The mocking concern fooled no one.

Reddening, Harry quickly jerked his arm through his robe's sleeve again. He straightened his glasses that had fallen askew from their fight and tried to pull himself out from under Ron and Hermione. Unfortunately, a threatening growl from Hermione made him reconsider.

"The only thing we'd ever get expelled for is beating the tar out of you, Malfoy," Ron growled threatening. He let go of Harry entirely and got to his feet from the ground. This gave Hermione an opportunity to cling closer to Harry. Ron's fists clinched as he headed Malfoy off. Both of the boys stopped a few feet away from each other, and Malfoy held out a warning hand.

"Beating the tar out of me won't make me forget what I've seen, Weasley," he stated coolly, "unfortunately for you."

Ron's eyes narrowed. "What are you talking about, Malfoy?" 

"You, Potter, and Granger sprawled out on the floor, Potter's clothes half off, Granger making weird cat noises... Please, Weasley, I wasn't born yesterday." 

Crabbe and Goyle chuckled contemptuously.

"To tell you the truth, I'm rather surprised," Malfoy said in a lazy drawl, backed by his friends' appreciative laughs. "Here I thought you couldn't sink any lower by going out with the Mudblood, Granger, but now you prove me wrong by going after Potty here too."

"Hey, my name's not _Potty!"_ Harry yelled indignantly. He raised halfway from the ground, but was stopped by Hermione who dug her claw-...uh…_nails_ into his arm. He sighed and sunk back down on the ground, submitting himself to having his hair played with again. He hoped that Malfoy wasn't noticing this.

Ron glared at Malfoy in disgust. "You have a sick mind, Malfoy," he stated angrily. 

"Really? It seems to me that you're the one rolling around on the ground, not me."

Ron looked as if he couldn't turn any redder. "Why don't you go off and snog your reflection somewhere!" he snapped.

Malfoy opened his mouth to retort something back, but was interrupted.

"Is anything wrong over here?" Professor McGonagall asked coolly.

The whole group whirled around in surprise and stared at the gray-haired witch. She was standing over them, surveying them severely with her handed clasped behind her back. 

Harry yanked Hermione's hand away from his hair, but she merely used the other, running her fingers though his hair with a dreamy look on her face. Harry smiled uneasily up at McGonagall, who appeared to have noticed the whole thing. "Um, hello there, Professor," he greeted, attempting to look casual.

"Hello there, Potter," McGonagall said back. "Would you mind explaining to me what you and Ms. Granger are doing on the floor there?" 

"Er...." Harry reddened Hermione's hand was creeping down his neck now.

McGonagall raised her eyebrows at Harry expectantly. 

"I er, I mean, we are... um... you see, **rehearsing** for a, umm… a **play **that we are doing for... er... some of the Gryffindors," Harry lied. 

Ron looked at Harry oddly, and he inwardly kicked himself. _Honestly, it that the best I could come up with?_

McGonagall eyed them suspiciously. "A play, huh?" she asked Harry, clearly not buying it. "And why, prey tell, are you practicing this play in the middle of the hall?"

"Er, Malfoy was wanting to see it?" Harry tried.

"I don't think so, Mr. Potter," Professor McGonagall stated sarcastically. "Now get up from that ground immediately and return to the Great Hall before I take points away from Gryffindor." 

Harry gave McGonagall a looked that clearely said he'd rather not attempt to. "Yes, Professor," he complied. He attempted to gently pull Hermione off him, but she clung even tighter to him. A warning growl elected from her throat as he squirmed. "Er..." Harry looked sheepishly up at McGonagall with his neck practically in a headlock under Hermione's arms, "Can I go a bit later?" 

McGonagall gave Hermione one of her best reproachful glances. "Mr. Granger, you heard me. Release Mr. Potter at once." 

Hermione shook her head in clear refusal at McGonagall, her bushy hair flapping around her face as she squeezed Harry's arm tighter. Harry winced. His hand was starting to go a bit numb.

McGonagall looked scandalized. Harry was sure that never in McGonagall's years of teaching, had Hermione ever disobeyed her. "Ms. Granger, take your hands off Potter this instant before I deduct five points from Gryffindor," she warned.

Hermione snuggled closer to Harry. There was a distinct choking sound of fury from Ron. Malfoy was looked amusedly at him while Crabbe and Goyle, merely confused as to what was going on.

McGonagall took an involuntary step back in shock at Hermione's rebellious behavior.She screwed up her face and put on her best you're-in-big-trouble-now look. "**Five points from Gryffindor!" **she shouted loudly, waiting for the effect of her words to sink in.

Hermione's face didn't change an iota. She looked at McGonagall defiantly, clinging even harder to Harry. Harry felt very similar to a rag doll by then.

Ron was looking like he had just been force-feed Blast-ended skrewt dung while Malfoy was looking as if he had just been named Minister of Magic. 

McGonagall was only looking upset. She glared down at Hermione wrathfully. **"**Very well then...** ten** points then from Gryffindor**!" **she said wrathfully.

Hermione yawned.

McGonagall reeled back in alarm. She stared at Hermione as if she had gone mad. Her specticals had fallen low on the ridge of her nose, but she didn't push them back up. She seemed to be doing some fast thinking. A look of sudden comprehension dawned on her. 

She turned on her heels towards Malfoy, who was attempting to stifle a laugh behind his hand. "And _twenty_ points from Slytherin!"she said so forcefully that Malfoy stumbled back.

Malfoy's face and hand fell. He looked at McGonagall in astonishment. "What! But what did **I **do?" he demanded, furiously.

McGonagall was breathing through flared nostrils, ominously. "I'll tell you what you did. You put a _Transitus Proparus_ jinx on Ms. Granger, didn't you, Mr. Malfoy?" she accused.

Malfoy gaped at her. "A transy-what?!"

"Don't play games with me, Malfoy!" she stated angrily. "I know that Ms. Granger doesn't behave this way to a teacher. I should say I'm impressed though. A character modifying spell is far more advanced magic then I'd expect for you to be able to do."

"B-But---" Malfoy was, for once, lost for words. His gray eyes were fixed in fear and fury on McGonagall. 

Ron seemed to be catching on, and an evil expression was coming over his face. "Oh, come off it now, Malfoy," he said, turning the groups attention to him. "It's obvious that Prefessor McGonagall's caught you. Why don't you just come clean already?"

Malfoy gave Ron a glare of absolute loathing. "Why you--" he began. He hand went to his wand, but McGonagall seized his arm and yanked it firmly away. "Detention for that one, Mr. Malfoy. I will not have any pupils of mine drawing their wands at others while I'm around."

"But--"

"Now come along then, Ms. Granger," McGonagall said. She dragged Malfoy with her and took a hold of Hermione's arm. "To the infirmary, then. We'll see what Madam Pomfrey can do for you."

Hermione clung to Harry desperately while he coughed loudly as she squeezed his throat tightly with her arm. 

McGonagall frowned again. "Did you hear me, Ms. Granger. Here, Potter, help me get her off you." 

It was then her hand brushed against the top of Harry's head. She jerked it back as if Harry's head had burned her.

She then suddenly froze as a peculiar expression over took her. 

"Oh my….." she muttered. She let go of Malfoy's arm. He instantly skirted away from her as she placed her free hand softly on her withered cheek. A misty eyed look over came her, and she kept muttering over and over again: "Oh my, oh my, oh my," in a strangely high voice.

Harry felt sickness in his stomach once again. McGonagall straightened her specticals and fixed him with a very unfriendly gaze. No, it was worse then being merely **_'friendly'_** it was the type gaze he had seen his Uncle Vernon give his Aunt Petunia when he'd had too much to drink. It was the gaze that said all too clearly '_I want you now oh baby, baby, baby' _

'This could be a bit of a bad thing…' Harry thought desperately to himself. His right hand was reaching automatically for the wand in his pocket. His fingers closed tightly over it, and he brought it out, pointing it warningly at McGonagall.

Warning noticed, McGonagall took out her own wand. 

__

Oh, shit…

"E-Expello!" Harry shouted, throwing caution to the wind. 

The banishing spell hit McGonagall hard and threw her back into Malfoy who gave a mouse like squeak before he was knocked completely over and crushed.

With strength he did not know he possessed (or he did, just never had as much of an excuse before), Harry tore himself away from Hermione, who let out a protesting hiss and raised his wand at her. "Now, I'm warning you, Hermione. Stay back!" he said in panic. 

Hermione didn't look about ready to listen to Harry, and Harry knew it. He backed up, turned, and ran for his life down the hallway Ginny had disappeared down.

McGonagall, recovered from the spell, leaped up from the ground and ran after him, along with Hermione, who's eyes were alit with a strange yellow glow.

Malfoy layed where he was, momentarily winded from where the Professor had stepped on him in her haste. "Oy, Weasley," he called, rolling his head over to look at Ron who was staring at the retreating figures with his mouth open. "D'you suppose there's something Potter isn't telling us?" 

"Yep," Ron said, forcing his gapping mouth shut. "You into finding out what?" he asked.

"For once I think I am, Weasley. This looks like an excellent opportunity for blackmail if I ever saw one."****


	3. Ms Norris' New Affection

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Chapter 3- Ms. Norris' New Affection

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, or anything else of great value for that matter…. 

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Ginny ran along the school corridor tirelessly. Her red curls clung sweaty to her neck. She brushed it all to her left shoulder then thought otherwise and threw it back behind her head. She wished vaguely that she had a tie to pull it back with. _'Stupid Snape,' _she thought savagely to herself, narrowing her eyes. He had pushed that potion on her to give to Dumbledore, without even a thought to her own welfare. He had treated her like his errand girl, and now look where it had landed her. Or rather, where it had landed Harry.

Oh, of all the people she had to meet in the hallways, it had to have been Harry. What must he be thinking of her now? Giving him a love potion like that. What if he misunderstood and thought that she had done it on purpose? The idea made her face burn. Her brothers had always took her crush on Harry to their advantage. Taunting her all the time over summer vacation. Reenacting the many embarrassing moments when she made a prat of herself in front of Harry Potter. Fred made it his personal duty to pretend he was sticking his elbow in the butter dish whenever she was in the room, pretending she was Harry and bating his eyelashes at her. If he didn't watch it, she was going to forget the 'no magic' policy of Hogwarts and jinx both him and George to oblivion. 

Out of nervousness, she tried remembering exactly what Snape had said to her when he pushed the potion into her hands, with impatience.  
  
_'Now listen very carefully, Ms. Weasley, for I am only going to say this once since I'm short of time. Under no circumstances are you or anyone else to drink, touch, or even smell this potion. As you are well aware the illegal use of this potion can result in spending time in Azkaban. You can only imagine how powerful that must make this. The ingredients alone are very hard to come by and I will not have you spilling any' a smirk cracked on Snape's face. 'If you by any chance wanted to give this love potion to someone like Potter (Yes, I know about your feelings for him, Ms. Weasley. You aren't very secretive about them, you know) the consequences would be horrendous. As this potion makes anyone who drinks it totally and completely irresistible to the opposite sex, you can only imagine the kind of ruckus it would create in giving Potter some... Though I won't say that the idea of him being trampled by hundreds of women isn't very amusing....'_  
  
Suddenly an object flashed before Ginny, hampering her thoughts. A thing too blurry to see whizzed by in front of her and all at once something big and green came flying straight towards her head. She tried to duck, but her reflexes were too slow.  
  
**_SPLAT!_**  
  
An evil cackle met Ginny's ears as she began to whip large amounts of green goo off her face. She scrapped the gunk out of her eyes and threw the contents onto the floor, glaring up at Peeves, the Poltergeist hovering above her, angrily.  
  
Peeves cackled again. "Weeeell if it isn't icky lil' fourthy Weasley! Where's your friendys, lil' fourthy? No Potty to play with today?"  
  
Ginny threw some of the goo at Peeves, who dodged out of the way easily. There was a bucket of more goo in his hands. "Go away, Peeves! I'll tell the Bloody Baron on you!" she threatened.  
  
Peeves' eyes narrowed evilly. "Oooh, so lil' Weasley-Feasley wanna be mean, does she? Weeeell, I should be mean right back then, I should!"  
  
Ginny gasped as Peeves threw three more balls of goo flew at her.   
  
She shrieked as hit her, and Peeves laughed wickedly, doing a back flip through the ceiling and out of sight. The bucket, slammed into it then fell down, splattering the floor and Ginny's feet with it's contents.   
  
"I'm going to kill 'em," Ginny muttered, hanging her hands limply out in front of her in disgust as goo dribbled off her fingertips. She glared at the place Peeves had exited. "Never mind the fact he's already dead. I'll find a way to do it even if it takes me all year!"  
  
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Meanwhile, Harry Potter was having some problems of his own. He had been running non-stop down the hallways, loosing McGonagall and Hermione somewhere three corridors back. He had used a secret passageway he'd seen on the Marauder's map. This, however, had lead him to a section of the school he had never been in before.   
  
Harry looked around his surroundings. There were rows of pictures lined down the hallway. The occupants were all casting him rather malevolent glares from their frames. He spun around, staring at them and didn't see where he was going.

__

WHAP! An odd smell met his nostrils as he collided with something squishy.  
  
"Hey, watch where you're going, Potter!" Filtch yelled furiously from above him. The strong odor of fish hung around him thickly and caused Harry to move quickly away from him. A bony finger was thrust into his face.  
  
Harry found himself staring slightly cross-eyed at a large wart on Filtch's left index finger.  
  
"And just where do you think your going, eh?" Filtch asked, narrowing his eyes at Harry in suspicion. "This here passageway's restricted. I have a mind to give you detention for this, I do."  
  
"S-Sorry, sir," Harry stammered. "I was, uh, just leaving right now."  
  
"Ah, you were, were you?" Filtch said sarcastically. "So you're telling me, Potter, that you just came racing into here at top speed, bumping into me, just to be leaving all the sudden? I smell guilt here, don't you, Mrs. Norris?" Filtch looking down fondly at the ginger cat at his feet, but her yellow eyes were glued straight on Harry.  
  
Harry watched her fearfully as a purr began to erupt from her throat. She stalked over to him and started rubbing against his leg lovingly. He tried to shake her off, but she gave a piteous meow and started batting his leg playfully.  
  
Filtch's eyes widened at this uncharacteristic display of behavior in his cat. "Mrs. Norris?" he said in surprise.  
  
"Er...." Harry shook his leg violently as the cat started to try and claw up his pants.  
  
The veins in Filtch's temples began to bulge while his neck turned deep red. He fixed his eyes back on Harry, who was trying his hardest not to look guilty. "What have you done this time, Potter?" he demanded.  
  
"Uh..."  
  
"You've stolen something, haven't you? Ms. Norris smells it on you."  
  
Harry strongly doubted that because, even if he had stolen anything and Ms. Norris wasn't just being effected by the potion, there was no way something could smell anything over the horrible smell Filtch was giving off, himself.  
  
"Fess up, Potter! I know you're hiding something. What is it? You always were a sneaky little snot."  
  
"I don't have anything," Harry protested, taking a step back from Filtch. "Honest," he added upon seeing the accusatory expression on Filtch's face. He clearly wasn't buying a word.  
  
"Empty your pockets," he commanded.  
  
"What?"  
  
"I **order** you to empty your pockets **now**, Potter. Or do you want me to get a Professor?"  
  
Harry grimaced at the thought of trying to explain to someone like Snape what had happened to him and why he wasn't in class. He quickly started emptying his pocket, dropping the contents on the floor.  
  
Filtch surveyed the booty with his beady eyes narrowed. "A couple o' Sickles, a few knuts and…. Well, well, well, what is this," he picked up a dungbomb and smirked gleefully, examining it carefully in his dirty hands. "Well, Potter, I think you've just won a few hours of detention. Dungbombs are strictly forbidden on the grounds. Number twenty-eight on my list if I'm not mistake, and since you shouldn't even be down this hallway to begin with…" the gleefulness spread. "This could be quite a few detentions. Actually, I think I'll tell Professor Dumbledore about this." He pocketed the item. "You'd best come with me then, Potter, so I can write a note to the Headmaster about this."  
  
If Filtch was wanting Harry to be upset by this, he had quite the opposite effect. Even though the idea of cleaning bedpans in the school infirmary for a week wasn't the most pleasant one to him, at least he would be safe in Filtch's office for a while, and hopefully the potion would wear off before then. Also, if he went to go get Dumbledore, he could cure him! Harry's heart skipped a beat with joy, but he quickly subdued it and screwed up his face in a dismal look. He didn't want Filtch to catch on, and he was sure the more depressing he looked, the longer Filtch would keep him in his office.... To relish in his torture.  
  
"Upset are you, Potter?' Flitch asked, his crooked, yellow teeth bared in a grin as he watched Harry force a grimace. "Weeell, now you'll know better next time, won't you? Come on then."  
  
He grabbed the back of Harry's robes roughly and jerked him forward.  
  
Harry stumbled for a moment. Ms. Norris was rubbing against his legs and tripped him up. The cat nipped affectionately at his heels as Filtch pushed him along.

  
Harry trudged with Filtch back upstairs towards his office. The hallways were all deserted, except for a few ghosts here and there. Classes must've started now, then. When they finally arrived, the slimy, rotten door of Filtch's office loomed impressively ahead. Harry found a knot start to come in the back of his throat. Maybe this wasn't such a great idea after all. Already the fishy smell that Filtch was emitting was getting stronger, stinging Harry's nose. He was going to the source of Filtch's smell. Why Filtch's office smelled of fish was quite beyond Harry. He didn't really want to know.  


"This way," Filtch ordered, kicking open the door, making sure he didn't loosen his hold on Harry's.  
  
Harry swallowed hard as the door was shut quickly behind them. He was very surprised, though, to see that they were not alone.   
  
"Well hello, Harry! What a pleasant surprise!" Fred greeted jubilantly. He quickly jabbed his twin who was dozing next to him in the ribs with his elbow. "Hey, George, look who's here."  
  
George grunted and opened one of his eyes to see what Fred was talking about. He sat up in mock pleasure. "Why what do you know, the famous Harry Potter's come to visit us. Filtchy's got his talons on you too, has he?"  
  
An angry growl echoed from Filtch's throat as he glared in complete hatred at the twins. Harry nervously scooted away from him. He smiled sheepishly back at the twins, not daring to answer while Filtch still had the back of his robes.  
  
I don't want any of you three talking, you hear?" Filtch growled at Fred and George as Harry tried to get his robes loosed from his iron hold. "I'll be right back with the Headmaster, so don't you go no where."  
  
He let go of Harry at last and pushed him forward towards where Fred and George was seated: a rather moldy looking couch with ends of feathers and springs sticking out of it at odd angles, and swung around back towards the door. "Watch over them for me, Mrs. Norris," he ordered the ginger cat that was weaving between Harry's legs. Harry thought his order seemed somewhat ridiculous since he doubted Mrs. Norris would have it any other way.... Unfortunately.  
  
Filtch's eyes narrowed even more at this odd display and left the room with a huff, locking the door behind him.  
  
Fred snorted. "Good riddance to that smelling slime-ball," he stated indignantly once he was out of earshot.  
  



	4. NEVER Upset Angelina Johnson

****

Chapter 4- Harry Learns a Lesson: Never EVER Upset Angelina Johnson

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------------------

"So what got you into trouble?" Fred asked Harry as he sat down next to him on Filtch's moldy couch. Mrs. Norris followed Harry, purring and wrapping her bony body around his legs.

"Was carrying dungbombs," Harry answered, ignoring the cat as best he could. "And I also was caught down a hallway that was off limits."

Fred winced. "Ouch, tough one for you. Well, George and I got it from Filtch for testing one of our new experimental tricks on him. Don't quite know why he took it so bad, really... " A smirk crossed his face.

"Which one was it?" Harry asked curiously.

"It was item #117 the 'color cleaner'," George answered. "It was Fred's brilliant idea to replace Filtch's old floor clearer with our own, but for some reason the old sod didn't like it...." He shrugged clearly bewildered. "After all, I thought the Entrance Hall floors looked better in pink."

"Much more cheerful at least," Fred commented. 

Harry struggled to hold back a laugh. After all, this wasn't the first time Fred and George had gotten in trouble with performing "experiments" on Flitch to help in perfecting their tricks to their future Joke shop "Weasley Wizard Wheezes". 

"I have a question for you, Harry," George said, drawing Harry out of his thoughts. 

"Yeah?"

George pointed down at his feet. "Why's Mrs. Norris hanging on your leg like that?"

Harry was slightly taken back and looked down at the dusty furred car on his leg. "Oh! Um, well, you see I ran into this little problem a little while ago, and accidentally drank this potion. It seems to--."

"What, makes cats love you?" Fred guessed before he could finish. "Oh, mum made us a potion like that once. It was for Socks, our old cat we used to own."

"Oh yeah. I remember him," George said in remembrance. "Good ol' Socks. Spiteful thing, he was! Mean all over. He wasn't always mean though..."

"Yeah, but ever since that incident with that haywire broomstick, he never really was the same," Fred stated. 

"I'd never known a cat to yowl so loudly before," George stated. "I thought Mum was going to kill you for sure with that one, Fred."

"But it was your idea, George," Fred reminded him.

"Well, it was your broom," George pointed out.

Fred shrugged. " Mum fixed him up all right in the end - made us drink a _Cattus Charus_ potion. Nasty stuff, but made him friendlier then a kitten."

"That is, until you set that firecracker off on his tail."

"Must have set a record with how high he flew though," Fred mused. He sighed. "It really was ashamed Mum got rid of him after that. He was a fun pet." Silence followed for a moment between the twins as if to reverence the departed cat. "So anyway," Fred said at last, looking back over at Harry. "How'd you get a hold of it, huh? Mess up in Potions class?"

"No," Harry said slowly, turning a bit red. "Actually, it's not that type of potion at all. It's an Amorae Potion."

**__**

"What!" The twins' mouths fell open. 

"What?" Harry said, confused at their horror-stricken faces. 

They were both looking at him wide-eyed.

"You got infected by the Amorae Potion? But that stuff's illegal! You can go to Azkaban for that!"

"I can go to Azkaban?" Harry said in surprise. A picture played in his mind of himself wearing the exact rags Sirius had worn when he met him, hunched over with his eyes sunken in, sitting alone in a cell at Azkaban. His insides turned cold at the mere thought of the Dementors. "It wasn't my fault though," he protested in a scared voice, "Ginny was the one who gave it to me."

****

"Ginny?" both the twins exclaimed at the same time.

"Why?" George demanded.

"How?" Fred said at the same time. 

Harry hesitated. "Well, she sort of didn't mean to. I took it from her actually." 

Harry then explained to the twins what exactly happened. 

"Wow! This is unbelievable!" Fred said after he had finished. 

"I know," Harry muttered miserably, the idea of Azkaban was still looming in his mind. 

"And to think I wasn't there to see Ron's face when you were on the floor snogging Hermione!" Fred said with great regret.

"We were **not **snogging!" Harry said indignantly.

"Well this explains Mrs. Norris and all," George said thoughtfully; "but one more question for you, Harry: How'd you get down to that forbidden corridor area? Fred and I have been trying for a week now to get there, but the stairs kept changing and leading us to McGonagall's bedroom. Gave her a nasty bit of a shock last time too, walking in on her when she had her hair up in curlers and a bathrobe on. Mind you, neither one of us was too happy to see her either." George grimaced at the frightful memory. "The crazy woman! Don't know why she got so upset. Made us clear toilets for a week. Without magic too!"

"Took thirty points from Gryffindor also. And it's her own house!" Fred fumed.

"McGonagall was really the reason I ran into the hallway," Harry admitted. "I was, uh, running away from her and Hermione after I caste a banishing charm on her."

Fred blinked. "You attacked McGonagall?" he asked calmly. Then his voice grew to a pitch not so calm. _"What the hell's wrong with you?_ That woman's a walking time bomb. She could kill you just by looking at you."

"Well, I didn't have very many options!" Harry said, annoyed. "The alternative would've been far worse."

Fred laughed. "Oh man you're in so much trouble! I can just see the look on McGonagall's face when she gives you detention."

"Hey Harry, can I have your Firebolt?" George asked hopefully. "I figure that since you probably won't need it after McGonagall's murdered you, it might as well go to good use." 

"George!" Fred said in reproach.

Harry glanced at Fred appreciatively until...

"That's not fair! I should have Harry's broom!"

Harry's face fell. _'Why did I tell them this?'_ he wondered to himself. 

Suddenly something interrupted his thoughts. It was a loud noise at Filtch's door. It was a sound like someone fiddling with the lock though Harry wasn't sure. He sharply glanced at the doorknob on the door and saw it turn from left to right quickly as someone tested it. 

"Hey guys, be quiet for a second," he ordered to Fred and George who were still arguing over who got to have his broom.

They broke off from their talk and looked over at Harry.

There was another sound from the doorway and a muttered word. Suddenly the door flew open and their eyes fell on a girl standing with her wand out in front of her. She smirked in triumph and pocketed her wand. 

"Miss me, guys?" she asked happily to Fred and George who were gapping at her in absolute amazement. 

"A-Angelina?" Fred stammered. 

Angelina giggled and struck a pose. "In the flesh," she said, tossing one of her dark braids out of her face. "And at your service too."

"But what are you doing here?"

"Why, helping you guys, of course! You do want to get out of Filtch's office, don't you?"

George's jaw dropped. "You mean, you're breaking the rules to help us? But this is unbelievable for you. You never break the rules! What about being Head Girl?"

Angelina shrugged. "Who cares about all that, George! Though I am mainly helping you in return for Fred doing me that favor last week with the frogs."-- Fred's cheeks reddened a bit. "Oh hi, Harry!" Angelina said, just noticing Harry. "What are you doing in here with these two losers?"

Harry gulped, eyeing Angelina nervously. The now captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, Angelina stood even taller then him. She was strong. She was fast. In other words, a greater worry to him then Hermione. The potion seemed to be triggered by touch, but was he to be sure of this? Was it really safe to answer her, or could his voice possibly trigger it? 

Fred and George exchanged glances, both seemingly thinking along the same lines as Harry. 

A confused look crossed Angelina's face as she observed them. Clearly she had expected more praise for what she had done then this.

"Hey, what's up with you guys?" she asked, slightly annoyed. "I come here, breaking about ten rules in the process, and save you guys from Filtch and all you can do is stare at me like I've grown two heads! What, is my mascara smearing or something?"

"Erm..." Fred shot Harry a glance, looking as though he had come up with a decision, then jumped up from his seat quickly and went to Angelina, taking her by the elbow. "Listen, Angel, we're really grateful for you helping us out and all," he said, though his sincerity was fooling nobody, "but I really must ask that you come with me for a second. I have some-- er-- important things to talk to you about."

Angelina looked Fred in bewildered suspicion as well as hurt. She seemed to understand that they didn't want her there and resisted him as he tried to pull her away from the room. "What's so important that you can't tell me in front of George and Harry?" she asked.

"I---uhh-- it's romantic wishy-washy stuff, ok? I don't want Harry and George to hear me if you take my meaning."

"I don't." Angelina whipped her arm away from Fred and glared at him. "What are you really up to, Fred Weasley? You've never said anything romantic to me ever! And as for whishy-washy stuff, I'm surprised you'd even know the term considering for Valentines last year you got me a box of Dungbombs."

George snickered, and Fred blinked in surprise. "But I thought you'd like the--... I mean...uh.... That's completely beside the point! Can't you just trust me and listen for once, Angelina?"

In answer, Angelina turned towards Harry. 

He quickly tried to avoid meeting her gaze as if she was a Basilisk who would kill him if he looked straight at her eyes. 

"Harry, I demand that you tell me what Fred and George are up to this minute! Why is Fred behaving like a total creep and..." --She then noticed something strange-- "wait a second... What the hell is wrong with Ms. Norris?" 

Harry fidgeted uncomfortably as Angelina stared down at the love-struck cat busy licking his shoes, purring exceptionally loud. He tried to think of a satisfactory lie that she could believe, but his mind came up blank and he merely stuttered out a few 'ers' and 'ums' while trying not to look like he was hiding something. 

Angelina glare turned from Harry's to Fred's then to George's slightly guilty faces. She was getting extremely annoyed now. "What have you guys done now, huh? Intoxicated Ms. Norris?" she accused.

Then, much to Harry's horror, she stepped further into the room, towards him. He gasped and jumped back.

****

"NOOO!!"

Instantly Fred ran to stop her and George sprang from his seat, shielding her from Harry who fell behind the couch.

"What the-- **_Fred Weasley! You get your hands off me this instant!" _**Angelina shrieked, as Fred wrapped his arms around her shoulders, picked her up, and forcefully pulled her back away from Harry. She kicked her legs and waved arms violently. **_"What-- I ---Aggg! That's it, you guys! I'm getting really pissed now!"_** she screamed.

****

"Angelina, just listen to us for a moment!" Fred said through clinched teeth as he strained to keep Angelina back and her hands away from his face. **"W-We're doing this for your own good! Harry's been effected with a potion at the moment and--"**

Fred stopped talking quite abruptly as Angelina's broke free and spun around. **WHAP!** Her fist made hard contact with his face causing him to reeled and fall back in a shocked daze. 

Harry winced from behind the couch where he was watching. Guilt pricked at his conscious. _'I should help them,'_ he thought to himself.

**__**

"Argg!!" George went flying back next, sporting a black eye similar to that of Fred's. Angelina let out a wild cry and jumped on top of George and Fred, her fists flying. Harry paled and averted his eyes from the inhuman scene. A loud cracking noise filled the room and an agonized yelp came from George.

Harry shrank back behind the couch, quivering_. 'Er, on second thought, I think I'll just stay put actually... Fred and George are big boys. They can handle this...'_

A nauseous feeling just like what he had felt when he first took the Amorae potion rose in his stomach. He groaned 

and sank deeper underneath the couch.

**__**

"Angelina I'm telling you! You're making a big mistake!" Fred yelled with one of his hands over his blackening eye and the other uplifted at Angelina who had taken a break and was towered over him, her fists still clinched tightly and breathing hard. 

"A big mistake, eh?" Angelina said angrily. "The only big mistake I've made, Fred Weasley, was ever going out with you to begin with." She gave a gruff laugh. "Here I was, sticking my neck out for you two to help you, and you repay me by **attacking** me!" 

George and Fred grimaced and shrank back from her. George was dabbing his nose with his sleeve to stop the blood that was pouring out of it.

Angelina glared at them in disgust then swung around and focused her eyes on Harry who was trying to remain unseen behind the couch with his head underneath his arms. 

__

'Oh God! Here she comes!' Harry thought in terror as the sound of footsteps coming towards him met his ears. He cowered deeper into his arms, too scared to look over the edge of the couch and see how close she was.

Angelina stomped over to him, going behind the couch, and grabbed his wrist, pulling him to his feet-- not hard, but forcefully enough for him to obey. 

Harry fought with all he had in him to get free as soon as she touched him, but resistance was futile and Angelina's grip didn't change one iota. "Come on, Harry," she said loudly, ignoring his pulling and straining to get away from her. "I'm not going to let you stay here with such_ **_violent_**_ people as these!" (Fred and George whimpered while nursing their wounds. 'I think she broke me arm,' Harry heard George whisper to Fred in agony.) "You're coming with me to see McGonagall so I can inform her, since I am a Perfect, to subtract ten points from Gryffindor for the Weasley twins vulgar conduct."

"B-but...b-but..." Harry stammered as he tried to squeeze his hand out of her grasp. Angelina let go and grabbed his elbow.

**__**

"No 'buts'!" she shouted. Harry gulped and held his tongue. "It's bad enough that I had to put up with Fred and George's bullying, so I am certainly not going to take any from you!" 

She lugged Harry forward with her, practically carrying him towards the doorway. Harry felt something at his feet and looked down to find Ms. Norris stalking beside him, her yellow eyes glowing at him in love. The sick feeling in his stomach increased. 

"Oh no!" he muttered as the pain escalated. He stopped dead at the doorway and doubled over, grabbing his sides. "Oooooow," he moaned weakly. It felt to him like a volcano had gone off inside him. He wanted to throw up, but yet somehow couldn't. All he could do was hold his stomach and moan.

"Harry?"

"It hurts!.... A-A pain," was all Harry could say. His eyes began to mist over.

Angelina let go of his arm in alarm and squatted down in front of him, worried. "Harry? Harry, tell me what's wrong? Are you sick?" 

"D-Dont... touch....me!" Harry said in agony as Angelina reach to grab his arm again. "P-Potion....will....be....trigg..trigg...**_Ahhh!"_** Another wave of nausea hit him.

"Potion? What potion? Harry, what's the matter with you? I don't under-" Angelina reached forward and held Harry's arm, but as soon as their skin made contact, it happened- "-stand...I..uh..." Angelina's eyes widened and her mouth opened. She yanked her hand back as if she got shocked and got to her feet quickly again. 

Almost like it had never been there, the pain in his stomach subsided suddenly, and Harry opened one of his eyes to stare up at Angelina. A feeling of great dread replacing the nausea he had. He straightened back up and took a step back.

"H-Harry?" Angelina whispered, her eyes looking confused. "Why didn't you tell....I feel so....I..." Her voice dropped to a sort of purr-like whisper. "You know, Harry, your eyes are the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen....So green... and so very... very... very... very pretty!" 

Harry took another step back away from Angelina. His mind reverted back to their last Quidditch practice. The image of Angelina weaving in and out between players, always managing to catch the quaffle while evading bludgers played very vividly in his mind. She was obviously very fast-- faster then him by far, had great hand-eye coordination, great aim (she hardly ever missed the goal post), and a determination unmatched by anyone else on the team except maybe for Katie Bell. _'And myself,'_ Harry thought as he reached for his wand in his back pocket contemplating whether to try and escape first or just use the leg-locker curse on her and be done with it. He was sure she would understand him doing it once she realized why.... 

A slight groan came from behind him where George and Fred still were.

Actually, maybe she wouldn't.... Making up his mind, Harry got ready to make a run for it as soon as Angelina tried anything...By the look on her face, Harry had a feeling that would be any second now. 


	5. Voldie's Underwear

****

Chapter 5 - Volde's Underwear

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

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"What's all this about?" - Ron Weasley - 

-----------

Answers to some of the Questions:

****

Q: Will there be any slash in this fic?

__

D: No, I am not going to have any of the guys (Ron, Snape, Malfoy, etc.) effected by the potion. Sorry to all you slash lovers out there, but I'm just not much of a slash writer and probably wouldn't do the pairings justice if I did try to add them into the story. The potion, as Snape explained, only makes people of the **opposite** sex attracted to Harry so no R/H, S/H, or M/H scenes will be in this story. Gomen, guys. I may add in some more interesting things about Draco and the Sitting Monk picture in the third floor corridor later though if that'll help.

****

Q: Will this be a Harry/Ginny fanfic?

__

D: Yes, this will. Sorry H/Hr shippers, but towards the end of this fic, this will most definitely be H/G. I'll try to keep it at a low romance level, so it won't overcome the humor and scare off the H/Hr, D/H, etc. shippers. But to those who like the H/G pairing, there will be a hopefully very cute scene with them at the end if you're curious. Ginny is going to begin to play a much larger role in these next few chapters since she is the key to solving Harry's little "dilemma".

------------------

As fate would have it, while Harry was rather preoccupied preparing himself from being assaulted by the Gryffindor Chaser, Angelina Johnson, Ginny was having her own problems as well...

"Limon drops?....uh, Popsicle sticks?.... Refried Beans?... Oh come on, just let me in, will ya? This is important!" Ginny pleaded to the gargoyle statue guarding the doorway of Professor Dumbledore's office. 

Nothing happened and its stone face didn't change. Ginny gave an exasperated sigh and stomped her feet some impatiently. 

Ginny had been trying to get into Dumbledore's office for the past ten minutes now and was fast running out of ideas of what the password could be. She had already gone though the majority of all the Muggle candies she knew since Harry had told her a while back that the password would probably be something like that. When she had asked him why he had merely shrugged and said he had no idea and that _Dumbledore was probably just crazy like that. _

Ginny was beginning to agree.

"Come on! Just let me in already!" she demanded irately to the gargoyle. "I've got to see Professor Dumbledore **now!" **

Clearly deaf to her urgency, the statue continued to stare blankly at her. 

Ginny threw up her hands and shouted: **"Licorice ropes!....Mars bars!....** Some other stupid Muggle candy... oh, 

gosh, I don't know! Just let me in!.... Droobles Best Blowing Gum!.......**_Cockroachclusters!...._** No, wait, that was last years...." 

Now her patience was nearly gone. **_"Damn, stupid door!" _**she shouted, kicking the gargoyle statue with her toe. While proving ineffective in moving the statue, the kick did succeed in injuring her toe. A rivet of pain flooded up her foot. **"Owww!"** she moaned, grabbing the damaged toe in agony. She hopped around the hallway some. 

"Fine, uh.... Fudge is a Pansy!.... Er, Snape's a stupid, smelly old git!" she guessed, though not much expecting them to work. 

As usual, the gargoyle didn't respond to her, but someone else did...

"A stupid, smelly old git, am I, Ms. Weasley?" came Snape's cool, vindictive voice behind her. 

Ginny literally leaped up in surprise. Taking her hand off her foot, she spun quickly around, splattering some of the wall beside her with green slime that flew off her goo-covered robes. After gaining her balance (Since leaping around on practically one foot was a difficult task) she nearly fell backwards as she came quite suddenly face to face (Or rather face to chest as that was how high Ginny was on Snape) with Professor Snape who was glaring down at her over his abnormally large, hooked nose only a few inches from her. His hands were folded comfortably behind him as he allowed a thin smile to cross his face. "Surprised to see me, Ms. Weasley?" he asked icily. "And what are you doing lurking around Professor Dumbledore's office, hm?"

Ginny's jaw dropped but no words came out of her mouth. Her throat felt completely dry, like she had swallowed a handful of sand. She opened her mouth then closed it; then she opened it again, trying to find her voice. After her fourth attempt, she was able to stammer: "I-I.... uh, well, you see...er...--" but no thought came to her as to where to go after that.

"I would _hope," _Snape interrupted, "that it is to deliver to him my Amorae Potion I gave you that I worked so very hard to make. That is the reason, right, Ms. Weasley?"

Erm," Ginny looked down at her filthy robes guiltily. She frowned at all the green smudges on it, wishing she had cleaned them some more before coming up to Dumbledore's office. Then she looked back up at Snape. "Yeah, that's right, sir," she lied, careful to keep her tone even. 

"And where is it?" Snape asked, not bothering to mask his suspicion. "I don't see it in your hands, and why are you just standing here at the Headmaster's doorway?" 

"Uh." Ginny took a step away from Snape, desiring more space to think as it was rather intimidating and hard trying to come up with a suitable lie while Snape was towering over her like he was. 

"Didn't I tell you the password?" inquired Snape, his beetle eyes burning into her. Then his face turned sour, and he sighed in aggravation. "Oh, yes, that's right I didn't. How foolish of me. No matter. I'll take the potion to him myself, I guess, then." He stretched out his hand to Ginny expectantly. 

Ginny blinked blankly and stared at it, her facing turning a vivid red. "Well?" he said impatiently; "What are you waiting for? Take it out of where ever you're hiding it, and give it to me now."

Ginny was absolutely horror struck at Snape. She switched her gaze from his hand up to his face to see if he was possibly joking. He couldn't seriously be asking for the... 

"I, uh, already delivered it to Professor Dumbledore, sir," she blurted out, rather louder then she meant to and in much more of rush then she had anticipated. 

Snape snapped his hand back from her swiftly. His eyebrows leaped up. "Indeed?" he said sharply, staring even harder down at Ginny. 

Ginny swallowed nervously and gave a weak nod. 

"Well, if that is the case, Ms. Weasley." An evil look formed on Snape's face. "Then I am most curious for you to tell me why you're still here, and just how you were able to deliver the potion to Professor Dumbledore if you don't have the password into his office." 

Ginny was taken by surprise. "Oh! Well, I, umm, well, you see...I--"

"Or perhaps, you are telling me a lie of some sort..."

**__**

"NO!" shouted Ginny in panic. Snape eyes narrowed, and she quickly restrained herself. "I mean,_ no_. No. Of course not, Professor. I, er... you see, I met Dumbledore on my way here by the...um.... Library, and I, uh, gave it to him then. He sent me here to go fetch his... er...the Sorting Hat... and that's why I'm hanging around here.... Now.... This very instant....That is....Yeah...."

There was an awkward pause following Ginny's explaining. Snape didn't move at all but continued to glare at her impressively which made Ginny start to grow uneasy. A wild thought of escape began racing through her mind. _Run. Run!_ It seemed to scream. She fought to keep from obliging it, remembering that Harry was still out there in need. _Just forget him!_ the voice insisted. _Every man for himself. Harry'll understand that. You know he will... _Ginny swallowed and locked her knees. No, she couldn't.... Not yet anyway.... She focused her gaze back at Snape, making sure not to blink though, as soon as she did, her eyes started itching and watering dreadfully. The Potions Teacher stared back with his dark, black eyes peering straight into her's, enveloping her in their cold, empty, tunnel-like centers. She shivered and continued to look back treating him just like she would if she was staring down a hippogriff. _I mustn't blink. I mustn't blink. I mustn't....._

Snape snorted and looked away from her at last.

Ginny breathed out heavily in relief and furiously blinked her watery eyes, rubbing them with her robe's sleeve while he was turned away. 

"I see then," Snape said silkily, his nostrils flaring. He looked back at Ginny who quickly dropped her arm to her side. "Well then I guess I owe you an apology then. Here I was about to accuse you of losing my Amorae Potion when you already gave it to Dumbledore. Funny, no? Ah, how very untrusting I am, don't you agree, Ms. Weasley?"

Ginny's face started to turn redder then a holly berry. "Oh, uh, yeah, right... uh...Haha!" 

Snaped smiled at her, or rather, he bared his teeth at her. One could never actually picture Snape smiling for real at a person. Apparently, at least, Snape couldn't picture it since that was probably the reason why his face looked so strained and stretched when he did it. Ginny thought the smile made him look very much insane, like Hagrid's on one of this "drinking days", and that was saying something too. 

Ginny took another step away from him. 

"Yes, yes the jokes on me I guess," Snape said; "but alas! No time to chat now though, hm? Come on then, Ms. Weasley. Let's be on our way." 

Ginny started. "B-Be on our way?" she repeated in alarm. 

"Why of course!" Snape said, blinking at her in pretend surprise (He wasn't very good at it). "You said you needed to go get the Sorting hat for Dumbledore, right? We mustn't keep the poor man waiting, so we'd better get in there. To show you my sincerity, I'll go ahead and tell you the password and help you find the hat, how's that?"

Ginny's face turned from bright red to gray. "B-but... uh, I can do it by myself, Professor. I don't need any help.... really."

"Oh, but I insist. After almost accusing you? It's the least I can do to make up for it, my dear." He sounded like he had just eaten something rather disagreeable by the way he said 'my dear' but Ginny chose not to comment, as she was quite frightened already. 

"Well, let us go then," Snape commanded, taking Ginny's arm in his spidery hand. He squeezed down just a little too tightly causing Ginny to feel small pin-like needles race along it. She bit her lip right as Snape approached the statue and shouted the password to it... 

**__**

"Voldie's Underwear," he boomed. 

The gargoyle's face unfroze and he got up and out of their way at once, allowing Snape to stroll past it briskly. He dragged Ginny along with him, so roughly that Ginny hadn't the chance to fully contemplate the very startling question of just why Dumbledore's password was Voldermort's under-clothing of all things_. Humph! That's the last time I'm listening to Harry!_ She resolved. _I'm beginning to think Dumbledore really is quite mad.... Or maybe just very peculiar..._

They entered Dumbledore's office. 

---------

"So which way do you think he went?" Ron asked as Malfoy and him looked from right to left down one side of the castle corridors to the other. Both looked pretty well deserted. 

Malfoy caste Ron an annoyed look. "How should I know where Potter ran off to? You're the one who's suppose to be his friend, after all."

Ron scowled. "Well what makes you think I had any idea where Harry went to? You're the one who's always _stalking_ him after all."

Draco's ears turned pink. "I'll pretend I didn't hear that," he muttered. He turned and went down the passageway to their left, so his face couldn't be viewable to Ron.

Ron saw the blush before he could hide it and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right, whatever," he muttered, shoving his hands in his robe pockets. He followed Draco down the hallway glumly. 

They continued down the hallway in silence for a while, neither one very eager to talk to the other. The hallway soon ended and they went down another one that was also completely deserted. _Where was everyone, anyway? _

All Ron could hear was Professor Flitwitch's voice in on of the classrooms to their right. He sounded slightly panicked. Suddenly a loud explosion sounded though the room and smoke billowed though the crack underneath the classroom's doorway. They looked sideways at it, only slightly interested since explosions were natural everyday occurrences in Hogwarts, before turning another corner in the hallway.

Ron began to whistle a tone just to preoccupy himself with doing something. 

Malfoy glared at him, clearly wanting him to quit it, but Ron merely whistled louder to annoy him more since, after all, annoying Malfoy was one of his favorite things… Apart from maybe arguing with Hermione. To him, arguing with her was great fun, especially the after effects of the battle for reasons Ron didn't want to get into about as they would make him go scarlet and he didn't want Malfoy to see. 

__

Why was he with Malfoy of all people anyway? Ron wondered.

Ron looked over at the silver haired boy for a moment-- he was staring ahead of them with a thoughtful look on his face-- and scowled. Annoying git, probably plotting something nasty at this very moment. He folded his arms over his chest, forgetting to keep whistling. 

**__**

"Angelina, I'm telling you! You're making a big mistake!" 

Ron and Malfoy stopped in their tracks abruptly in surprise as the sound of Fred's horror-filled voice boomed from a doorway to their left. There was a big crash and a loud thump. 

**__**

"A big mistake, eh?" They heard Angelina yell. Another crash sounded. **_"The only big mistake I've made, Fred Weasley, was ever going out with you to begin with."_**

Ron stood still, staring at the doorway. He noticed that it was Filtch's office. 

**__**

"--sticking my neck out for you two to help you, and you repay me by attacking me!" 

Attacking her? Fred? Ron glanced at Malfoy inquisitively, then went closer towards the door that was slightly ajar and listened. The thought of finding Harry momentarily left his mind.

He could hear slight shuffling of feet inside and something heavy being scooted over (Probably a chair) then heavy breathing. 

****

"Come on, Harry," Angelina said at last, sounding slightly out of breathe**. "I'm not going to let you stay here with such_ violent_ people as these!" **(Was it just Ron's imagination or did somebody just whimper?) **"You're coming with me to see McGonagall so I can inform her, since I am a Perfect, to subtract ten points from Gryffindor for the Weasley twins vulgar conduct."**

__

Harry? Ron's eyes met Malfoy's then he quickly went back to listening. 

A shaky voice spoke which Ron identified as Harry's: "B-but...b-but..." 

****

"No 'buts'!" Angelina suddenly yelled. There was a small clank. **"It's bad enough that I had to put up with Fred and George's bullying, so I am certainly not going to take any from you!"**

Malfoy started to grinned next to Ron, clearing enjoying the conversation. Ron had a feeling he was going to get that blackmail opportunity he was talking about as Malfoy moved even closer at the door, his ear completely against it. 

It creaked open slightly as more of his weight was added to it. 

Suddenly there was a loud groan. **_"Oh no!"_** Harry said, agony in his voice. He sounded like he was going to be sick. 

"Harry?"

"It hurts!.... A-A pain." 

Ron was alarmed and also pressed against the doorway with Malfoy.

It slid open another inch. 

".....Harry? Harry, tell me what's wrong? Are you sick?" 

".....D-Don't... touch....me! P-Potion....will....be....trigg..trigg...Ahhh!" 

Ron shuttered as there was a sound of someone stumbling. The door opened another crack as he and Malfoy leaned 

harder against it. 

""Potion? What potion? Harry, what's the matter with you? I don't under........stand...I..uh..." 

There was an awkward pause in which the door Malfoy and Ron was at opened another inch in eager anticipation.

At last, Angelina spoke again, sounding strangely scared. "H-Harry?" she whispered softly. "Why didn't you tell....I feel so....I......" Suddenly her voice changed to a weird, sorta high purr. "You know, Harry," (There was a sound of some movement inside), "your eyes are the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen....So green... and so very... very... very... very pretty!" 

**__**

"WHAT?" Ron mouthed in shock. He looked at Malfoy for some clearance, hoping he had just misheard what Angelina had just said. 

Malfoy looked just as surprised as him and leaned in closer to the door until......

**__**

BAMM!

A lot of things quickly happened, none of which Ron had expected. He suddenly found, to his surprise, himself laying face down on the cold, slightly damp ground with the smell of fish all around him and Malfoy lying next to him. That wasn't the most surprising thing to him though. No, it was when he looked up he saw a rather petrified looking Harry Potter with his wand drawn staring wide-eyed at him and Malfoy, a misty-eyed Ms. Norris looking friendler then he had ever seen her weaving between Harry's legs purring and pawing at him, Angelina Johnson looking like she was some wild cat on heat herself ready to pounce on Harry and pen him to the ground, and his two twin brothers laying in a crumpled heap near the couch looking like they had just been trampled by a herd of Hippogriffs. That is... until Harry jumped up and started screaming. 

**__**

"Ah….Ah…. Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!"

Ron clapped his hands over his ears in pain. 

"Potter?** Potter**, what the bloody hell are you...Now....Wait.... Wait a minute there.... hey! Watch it will ya?! **Ack!" **

Harry ignored Malfoy's rather loud protests as he came tearing between Ron and him, stepping on Malfoy's back as he went racing straight through the opened door. He continued to scream as he went down the hallway waving his arms around like an idiot, running like Voldermort and his whole Death Eater army was at his tail.

Ron and Malfoy shot quickly up from the ground, Ron, doing a half-circled spin around as Ms. Norris ran through his legs and out the door after Harry. 

They prepared to follow him but a disturbance behind made them stop and turn around. 

Angelina had finally recovered, being taken a little by surprise at Harry's abrupt departure, and was trying with all her might to pursue Harry who's loud scream was fading away in the distance. Unfortunately for her, Fred and George had managed to latch onto her legs and were keeping her back with all they strength they could muster. 

****

"R-Run!" Fred yelled at Ron who was stopped in his tracks, confused as to what they were doing. **_"Run, you nit-wit! Can't you see she's mad? Get out of here while you still can... A-And go help Harry! He's in a bit of a rut if you ask me."_**

Ron hesitated even as Malfoy turned and ran out the doorway. He watched Angelina Johnson hissing and clawing trying to get free of Fred and George who had now completely wrapped themselves around her legs, holding her feet down as she tried to shake them off. Her eyes were fixed on the doorway behind Ron, intent of chasing after Harry. It was really quite scary. 

"What's all this about?" he asked.

**__**

"Have you lost your…your marbles?" George demanded. **_"Ron, now's not the time to talk about that! Go find Harry! We'll hold her off as long as we can."_**

"B-But..."

**__**

"GO!"

Ron had no choice. He turned and left the room, following after Malfoy.

****

-----------------------


	6. UBends & Ghosts

****

Chapter 6 - U-Bends & Ghosts

__

Gotta get away! Gotta run and hide! Gotta find Dumbledore! Gotta kill Ginny! Gotta... - Harry Potter -

-----------------------

Special attention goes to Halacanno who was my 100th reviewer. Thank you very much for reviewing, Halacanno. Also, attention goes to Gryffingirl because she's continued to review my story faithfully and because our B-days are on the same day (Sept. 6) which I think is cool. ^__^

------------------------

Snape went right into Dumbledore's office without so much as a knock, which Ginny found oddly strange. Of course, Slytherins never did have many manners, but still, it was only common curtsey to knock first before entering somebody's office. And Dumbledore was Snape's superior no less. _Maybe he'll get in trouble,_ Ginny thought hopefully. 

Snape dragged her roughly with him towards the center of the office towards Dumbledore's desk, which was half buried in books, parchments, and quills. "Professor Dumbledore, I have a student here who claims you gave--huh?" As he got closer he saw that the seat, which had been hidden until now behind the great pile of assorted junk on the desk, was vacant. "Headmaster Dumbledore?" he called, confused.

No answer.

Ginny looked around her quickly at the whole room, not even daring to hope. _Could he not be here?_ The circular room certainly appeared to be deserted. Her eyes swept over the entire room, noting that the only sign that anyone ever was in here was a old Wizards' cloak hung haphazardly on a hat-stand besides Fawks' cage. Her gaze went back to a strange cabinet next to the trash bin to the right of Dumbledore's desk. It looked hardly used and had a strange aura around it, more strange, that is, then the rest of the room since it all was giving off rather odd vibes. 

Ginny had only been in Dumbledore's office once and had never gotten a good look at it before. She raised her head at the pictures circling above their heads of the old Headmasters and Mistresses of Hogwarts who were sitting in their picture frames snoozing contently with some of their great beards blowing slightly with each exhaled breath. 

__

I wonder if they ever wake up... she thought wistfully to herself as she stared up at them. 

A trimmer of a note vibrated through the room and a reddish gold bird landed softly her shoulder, taking her by surprise. She gasped and looked over at the phoenix quickly. "Oh, it's only you, Fawks," she said in relief.

It had been a while since Ginny had seen Fawks. Three years in fact. --Ever since her first year when Harry had rescued her from the Chamber of....

Ginny shook her head violently. No. It would not do to remember that experience right now. She had gotten over that. Tom was gone, right? No more thinking about it. It was over.

Fawks sent another trimmer of exotic notes through the room as if it wanted to soothe her. It rubbed its beak affectionately against Ginny's cheek, and she smiled at the phoenix.

****

"Headmaster Dumbledore?" Snape suddenly called loudly beside Ginny, sending her ear ringing. **_"Headmaster?" _**

Snape released Ginny's arm and stepped away from her. She massaged it gratefully. 

He went behind the desk and ducked his head underneath it. Not finding anything, he reappeared and swept his eyes over the desktop. Stuck between a pencil holder and paperweight in the shape of a quaffle was a white piece of paper. He picked it up and read the loopy handwriting on it. It read:

__

I have gone to help Professor Sprout with a little project of her's. Anyone who is wishing to see me may find me at Greenhouse 3 next to the Herbology room.

Thank you and have a nice day,

****

Albus Dumbledore

Snape started to curse. He crumpled up the paper and tossed it violently across the room. It bounced off a mini-statue of Gillwort the Gay and rolled onto the floor right at Ginny's feet. 

Then, with a few more obscenely detailed expletives, Snape stormed straight towards Ginny, who quickly backed away from him in fear, not trusting the mad glint that was in his eyes nor the rudely sounding words spilling out of his mouth in a inventive flood, switching from English to Goblin then Elvish and a few others she couldn't identify. She raised her arms and shut her eyes, braising herself for an attack of some kind but, to her surprise, Snape walked straight past her, towards the office doorway. It was almost like he hadn't even see her until...

"Take the Sorting Hat and get out!" Snape snarled from over his shoulder, pausing just long enough to send Ginny a powerful death glare. Then with a swept of his arm, he flew through the doorway and out of the room, his back robes, flowing like solidified liquid waves of night black, trailing behind him. 

The door slammed shut immediately after he left, making Ginny jump as she stared slightly confused at the place Snape had been but a second ago. 

__

What....Just...Happened.... she wondered. 

Her gaze fell down at the crumpled paper that was at her feet. She stooped down slowly and picked it up, uncrumpling it. The flowery cursive and wide loops made it rather difficult for her to read it, but after about two minutes of examining it, she was finally about to completely decipher the whole letter. Her eyes widened. _So that's where Dumbledore went! _

She looked up from the letter and bit the bottom of her lip in worry. Now what was she to do? Should she risk going down to third Greenhouse after him? What if she ran into Snape again? Well that was simple; she'd just tell him she was going to give Dumbledore the Sorting Hat but...

Ginny looked around the room carefully and spotted the tattered magical wizard's hat that had sorted her into Gryffindor her first year sitting on top of a stack of ancient textbooks on a shelf to the far right of Dumbledore's desk. She went over to it and picked it up. 

A fine layer of dust fell off it when she raised it, clouding the air around her a moment and causing her to sneeze. 

"Bless you," came a gruff sounding voice from the Hat.

"Oh, thanks," she said gratefully before stopping and giving a gasp. "Wait a minute...Did you just say something?" 

The Hat didn't respond except in continuing to lie still in Ginny's hands. 

Ginny held the Hat up to her face and peered at it more closely. She counted seven frayed patches on it, thirteen tiny tears and holes, and found three moths nesting in it when she turned it over to look inside. 

The Hat didn't make a sound all the while. _Must've been my imagination,_ she resolved at last with a shrug.

Hugging the Hat to her chest tightly in her arms, she headed out of the room. Fawks gave a sweet-sounding chirp of farewell after her as she waved at him before shutting the door behind her

While she walked down the stairwell towards the Gargoyle statue, Ginny thought she heard something....

"Hee, hee, nice chest you got there, little lady...."

She looked around her confused then down at the Hat lying innocently in her arms. She looked up again, then back down, getting slightly red in the face. "I'm going crazy," she said to herself. She stopped hugging the Hat to her chest and tucked it under her arm anyway, just to be safe. 

------------------

__

Gotta get away! Gotta run and hide! Gotta find Dumbledore! Gotta kill Ginny! Gotta...

Harry swerved down another hallway; beads of sweat dribbling down his face. Can't let her catch me! he swore to himself, picking up speed. While he ran images of what had all happened to him started flashing in his mind... Hermione, McGonagall, Ms. Norris, and now Angelina.... Why? Why was all this happening to him? What did he do so wrong? Was this repayment for Cedric's death maybe? 

As if in answer, Harry came abruptly skidding to a halt, going whiter then a sheet.

**__**

Oh shit! Two shadows creeping on the wall up ahead of him where the hallways meet were coming towards him. One had long bushy hair and the other with what looked to be a bun held together by two chopsticks. They were coming his way down the hallway that lead to the Great Hall.

Harry's heart skipped a beat. _The Great Hall?!_

They were talking, their voices echoed softly through the hallway, the click of their shoes getting louder.

"He must not be around here.... Perhaps the Tower?" Once of the voices said in a cat-like drawl, rolling the 'r's and saying the words in a purr.

"No, no, he's close. I know it.... Keep looking. He can't be much farther. Trust me."

"I still think we should try the Tower."

"Harry knows that the Gryffindor Tower will be the first place we'll check."

"Mmmm, his name's so delicious to hear.... Say it again, will you?"

There was a sigh. "Don't be such a child, Ms. Granger. Grow up before I take twenty points from Gryffindor."

"Oh, you like to hear it too. I know you do."

"Don't be silly. I--"

"Haaarry Potter."

There was a pause and a purr. "... Do it again."

"Haaaaarry Potter."

"Ooow, it is rather pleasant sounding..."

"Told you."

__

I think I'm going to be sick.... Harry thought to himself miserably, his feet frozen where he was standing. Actually, he really was starting to feel sick. The familiar nausea he had felt when he was with Angelina came back to him. He pressed his lips tightly shut to keep from throwing up and desperately looked from right to left for a place to hide.

McGonagall's and Hermione's voices were getting louder. They were about to turn the corner!

Harry swallowed and dove into the nearest doorway to his left right as they two women appeared around the bend. The door was miraculously open. Harry stumbled in and slammed the door behind him shut, locking it securely with trembling fingers. 

Not wasting a moment, as soon as he was done, he quickly pressed his ear against the doorway, listening with baited breath as Hermione and McGonagall came closer. They soon were by his door, their voices sending Goosebumps along Harry's arms.

"--Don't really understand why Harry's trying to avoid us. After all, we won't hurt him."

"Probably just shy. Bless him, he's such a brave thing! The moment I laid eyes on him when he was a baby with that awful scar carved on his forehead, I knew right then that he and I were meant to..."

"Don't you think he's a little young for you, Professor?"

"Love has no boundaries, Granger... And thirty points from Gryffindor for your lip. Harry and I were destined for one another, I tell you."

"Well, I get him too. Don't forget that we were paired together by Rita Skeeter."

"But what about _dear_, little Weasley?

"What about him?"

"Come, Come, Ms. Granger, you ought to really stay with your boyfriend. Besides, Harry needs a woman of experience. A woman who can..."

Their voices died away as they turned down another hall.

Harry waited until all was quiet before giving a great sigh of relief. He turned and leaned heavily against the door, sliding down to the floor in a heap, completely exhausted. 

"Whew! That sure was a close one!" he said out loud with his eyes closed. 

"What was a close one?" a voice in front of him asked curiously. 

Harry's eyes snapped open in a flash; his mouth dropped. He knew that voice..._No. **No!** Of all the places I could have gone to hid... I couldn't have possibly gone into..._

"Are you alright, Harry? You look a little pale," Myrtle said, floating above Harry with a worried frown. 

__

Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom! Harry looked up at Moaning Myrtle in horror. Her face was solemn, half-covered by her glasses and transparent freckles. The ghost was watching him with interest, hovering above him a bit, looking happier then he had ever seen her (The moment with Hermione being turned into a cat-girl their second year excluded, of course). A massive groan escaped his throat. _Oh, man! Why not just kill me now? _

"Oh, hi, Myrtle!" he said with fake cheerfulness while secretly praying the Amorae Potion didn't affect ghosts. "How's it going for you?"

Myrtle puckered her lips and sniffed. "Fine, but what are you doing in here? This is the girls' restroom, you know."

"Er, I, uh, just came to visit you, that's all."

"Really?" Myrtle asked suspiciously, her eyes threatening to fill with tears.

"Uh, yeah. Of course!" Harry said quickly. "I told you I would, right?" 

"Yes, well that was ages ago."

"Umm, sorry about that," Harry said lamely.

"Why haven't you tried to visit me before?" Myrtle asked woefully floating around Harry as he got to his feet and rubbed the back of his neck.

"I've been.... Busy," stated Harry, not sure what else to say. 

"Too busy to even say hi?"

"Er...."

"Oh, I see how it is," she stated, her lips trembling. "You've been avoiding me, haven't you?"

"Well---"

"Yes, that's it, isn't it?" The tears were flowing now. They fell in big transparent drops, disappearing as they rolled off her chin to the floor. "No one wants to actually see pathetic Myrtle, do they? Oh, no! They're too busy with their own lives to care about stupid **Moaning** Myrtle!"

"T-That's not true, Myrtle," Harry protested, backing away from the wailing ghost. Hermione had warned him once that he had never actually seen a real Myrtle fit. 

__

'You wouldn't want to either,' she had said with a sure nod._ 'Honestly, I don't understand that ghost. What's wrong with being dead? There's over fifty ghosts in this school and none of them seem to care much.'_

'I think Myrtle's always been miserable even when she was alive,' Ron had said before taking a large bite out of the head of a chocolate frog he had pulled from his pocket. It's legs started flailing around helplessly between his fingers. Hermione wrinkled her nose in disgust. 

__

'What?' Ron asked her, still chewing greedily on the head.

Hermione merely glared at him.

"Not true, huh? Isn't it though?" Myrtle demanded loudly.

"I-I came to visit you right now, didn't I?"

"Yes....well..." Myrtle floated forward some, brushing through Harry's arm. 

Harry really wished she wouldn't; it felt like ice buckets had been dumped on him. He shivered.

Myrtle went off a little ways to sulk, tears continued to stream down her face. 

The shivering didn't quit. Really, it started growing. Harry rubbed his arms to warm them up but as he did his stomach started to hurt again. A fluttery feeling welled up in it. _Oh no, not again!_ He thought to himself. 

It was horrible. Like a knife in his side. Harry doubled over and pressed his hands tightly against his ribs. He groaned in agony.

Myrtle's sobbing stopped, and she looked over her shoulder at Harry. "Harry?" she said softly. 

Wincing, Harry opened one of his eyes and looked up painfully at Myrtle. He tried to respond but couldn't. His vision was becoming cloudy. 

She floated towards him slowly, a peculiar look coming over her face. 

"You doing alright?" she asked.

"...I'm...F-Fine....," he said, straining to keep his voice steady. 

Myrtle reached over hesitantly towards Harry's face. Her icy hand barely touched his cheek before she hastily withdrew it. A blush spreading along her pale white cheeks. Her eyes took on an odd glow, sparking underneath the lenses of her glasses. "You know, it's ashamed you're alive," she whispered to Harry.

The convulsive shivering stopped and the pain in Harry's stomach lessened. He looked up in shock at Myrtle. "W-What was that?" he asked.

Myrtle's eyelids sunk low over her eyes, a weird smile spread along her face. "You would be such a wonderful boyfriend to have if you were a ghost," she stated wistfully. "Just imagine all the fun we could have, Harry. You, me, and the U-bend...."

"Uhhh...."

"Did you ever want to have children, Harry? I sure did. At least, before I...." She didn't complete the thought; she was slowly coming towards Harry. She took hold of Harry's arms, tugging him towards her bathroom stall. "Why don't you join me, Harry?" she asked hopefully. "You and I could go away together then. Can't you just picture it all!"

Harry did, and the thought nearly made him violently sick again. "A-Are you really suggesting that I.... kill myself?"

Myrtle's eyes lit up. "Yes! It would be so romantic! You'd be doing it for me."

"But....I don't want to die!"

"Really?" Myrtle looked thoughtful for a moment then shrugged. "Too bad."

****

"WHAT?"

Harry struggled wildly as Myrtle dragged him towards her toilet. It was only when she sunk through it, pulling him with her did he realize just what she was planning to do. "You seriously aren't going to try and drown me in the toilet, are you?"

Myrtle just smirked in response, pulling harder on his arm.

Harry yanked his arm as hard as he could away from her. He fell back into the stall door and stumbled through it. His mind was a jumbled mess of panic. Coming to a stop against one of the sinks, he caught his breath and dived for the door he had come in from. Between two crazy cat-like women and a ghost bent on killing him and imprisoning his ghost, he'd chose the cat-women!

He heard a large crash behind him as he unlocked the door and flew through it. He went tearing down the hallway as fast as he could, not looking where he was going until...

**__**

WHAP!!

"Hey! Watch where you're going! I coulda...._Harry?"_

Harry looked down at the person he had tackled and gasped. _"Ron?" _


	7. Ginny Gets an Earful

****

Chapter 7- Ginny Gets An Earful

__

"Uh, baby doll, you do'en ok? You look a little pale." - Sorting Hat -

****

Warning: Hear ye! Hear ye! Hear ye! Sexual innuendoes, perverted hats, murder crazed ghosts with hand grenades, and the corruption of an innocent fourteen year old's mind dwells in this chapter. 

-------------------

Ginny reached Greenhouse 3 completely out of breath. She had ran all the way from Dumbledore's office, taking the round about route to avoid Snape, and had not stopped until she got to the Greenhouse area. Bending over, she tried to massage out the stitch in her side, panting heavily. Underneath her armpit was still the tattered looking Sorting Hat, which was beginning to seriously make her uneasy. Every now and again while she had been running she thought she could hear comments being made.... Comments that were most inappropriate to the extreme. They were things she had only heard before by Adrae Spinnet-- a seventh year student known for her many illustrious adventures at the Astronomy Tower at night. Some of the statements Ginny thought she had heard might actually be worse then Adrae's though because they all sounded to be directed at her, and she certainly didn't want to think about such things as she was only fourteen and still had somewhat of a pure mind (though her brothers, George and Fred, and eliminated some of that when she came across one of their Witch House Weekly magazines they had left laying on the floor in their room two summers ago.... She still shuttered at the memory). 

Catching her breath and pushing the unpleasant memorize from her childhood out of her mind, Ginny squared her shoulders and approached the faded green door leading to the third Greenhouse and raised her hand to knock.

"Oww, do be careful how you put it in, Professor," came Professor Sprout's voice through the doorway.

She paused and hesitated. Her hand hovered mid-air at the door.

"I'm trying as best as I can, Sprout, but it's awful hard at my age," she heard Dumbledore saying in a strained voice. 

"It's alright. Right, ah, yeah, there, that's fine; now a little harder."

There was a very distinct grunt and a scuffle followed by consecutive banging noises. Ginny's hand dropped and she paled slightly. She hoped it was just because the Sorting Hat had been messing with her mind, but it sounded to her a lot like...

There was another grunt.

"There we go. Now again," Sprout commanded breathlessly.

There was a pause and a sound of heavy breathing. "A little demanding, aren't you my dear?"

"Just wanting the job done right.... Ow.... Ah!..... Yes! That's the ticket!"

"Glad it pleases you."

Ginny's whole body started to shake. She was adding one plus one and getting six hundred.

__

No. No. NO! It was not possible!...Dumbledore a-a-and S-S-Sprout???!!! There was, like, a century's difference between them!.... Really!... No exaggeration!.... They couldn't possibly.... They...that is to say..... 

Ginny clasped her hands over her mouth quickly to stop the vomit that was threatening to come. There was a giddy sounding cackle from underneath her arm where the Sorting hat was, but before she could investigate, it stopped.

More odd sounds emitted from the shed. 

"You... You're a really natural at this," came Sprout's voice again (Ginny couldn't help but notice how much out of breath she sounded now), "Even better then Snape was."

"Yes, well have had a little more experience then Snape has."

"I can tell."

That did it. Ginny's eyes got bigger then saucers. **_SNAPE??!!_** And with a muffled shriek of utter horror, she turned and ran away from the Greenhouse as fast as her feet could carry her. When she stopped again, her head was completely hidden in a nearby bush and loud retching sounds were coming from it. 

__

Ahhhhh!!! The horrors the horrors! Get out! Get out! Get out! Ginny thought after she finished throwing up. She started banging her head with her fists to try and stop the mental images flooding into her mind faster then it takes Hermione to raise her hand in Transfigurations class. 

"Aww, why'd you leave, huh? That was just getting interesting, baby," complained the Hat, speaking again and sounding very similar to the muggle, Austin Powers.

Ginny stopped beating her brains out and blinked. She reached down and raised the Hat with some dread. "Please, oh please, tell me that you're really talking and I'm not going crazy," she said in a pleading voice. 

One of the greatest tears near the bottom of the hat raised, making the Hat look like it was smirking. "We're all a little crazy, honey. Here, why not snuggle up with my and tell me all your little problems." 

Ginny stared at the Hat..... Then she stared some more.

Five minutes later....

"Uh, baby doll, you do'en ok? You look a little pale."

On cue, Ginny's eyes rolled back, and she tumbled over and fell into a dead faint on the grass.

"Bugger…." the Hat said in disappointment.

--------------

"Harry, what they hell did you do that for, huh?" Ron asked getting up from the ground irately. He dusted himself off briskly. "Gosh! At least give me a warning before you come bloody running straight into me, you prat!" 

Harry was watching at Ron with an odd look on his face, as if he couldn't decide whether to bursting into tears of fright or pouncing on Ron and cry for joy. Both seemed far to OOC for him to do, so Harry did neither. Instead, he got up from the ground also and grabbed Ron's arm quickly. "Listen Ron, I'm really sorry about this, but I advise you to come with me and run."

Ron looked at Harry in confusion. "And why is that?"

Then, as it always happens in dramatic times, Myrtle made her appearance, coming though the girls' bathroom door, looking as pissed as a plump, dead girl with glasses and freckles can look (which is surprisingly very scary and impressive). She let out an angry yowl when she saw Ron and Harry standing stone still in front of her in shocked fear and went zooming towards them through the air, her hands raised and fingers tweaked in a strangling position.

Ron's face looked very similar to that of a mouse's right before it's stepped on by a rampaging elephant. An indistinguishing '_eep_' escaped from his mouth, but luckily Harry remained quick-witted and yanked Ron with him right as the ghost was about to reach them. They ran down the corridor as fast as their feet would allow. 

Ron snapped out of his frightened trance when they turned a corner and wrenched his arm away from Harry's grip. "Harry, I demanded to know what you did to get Myrtle so angry!"

"Errrrr....."

A large brick went whizzing through the air above both of their heads before Harry could give a better response. They ducked and went down another corridor. A lead pipe, three large flowerpots, and other various items that are virtually impossible to be found in a school corridor but are there anyway to keep the story going began to rain down on them. Harry and Ron had to keep swerving left and right to avoid them all. 

Ron yelped as a tree branch grazed his elbow. "Merlin! What is she trying to do? Kill us?"

"Uh, hee, hee, hee." Harry laughed uneasily. 

Ron looked at him suspiciously, but the glare was short lived as a car door flew over their head. 

The wrathful ghost gave an evil laugh then it all stopped.

Harry looked over his shoulder worried and saw the hall was deserted behind them. _What is she trying to pull, I wonder...._ He slowed down his run and looked around them. Nothing. She was no where to be seen.

Ron slowed down also, spinning his head around and looking on all sides of them. "Where'd she go?" he demanded, slightly panicked. "Did she give up, maybe?"

"I wouldn't count on it," Harry muttered, reaching for his wand although he wasn't sure what spell he could use on a ghost. It's not like he could kill her twice or anything, and any spell he'd send her would go straight through, wouldn't it? 

Ron got out his wand as well and went back to back with Harry. Better for them to be watching each others backs then be attacked when they didn't expect it. "I wish she'd come out of hiding already. This is really unnerving." 

"Yeah, better to know where the wasp is in the room then to not, right?"

"Right." Then something hit Ron. "Wait a second.... Why is Moaning Myrtle even chasing us! Crips! I was so preoccupied running and dodging crap that I forgot the whole reason why I was down here. Harry, I need an explanation from you. What's going on? What's wrong with Hermione... McGonagall....Angelina...Myrtle....A-And Ms. Norris was acting weird too, come to think of it."

"Well....uh....." Harry paused, not sure how to word it all. "You see I....."

"Wait!... Something moved."

"Where?" Harry stiffened.

Ron aimed a shaky wand at the wall to their right, paling some. "I was almost sure I saw something...." 

Then, of course, there came a very maniacal laugh. It echoed hauntingly throughout the corridor. Myrtle reappeared, gliding through the wall Ron had been pointing at and she wasn't empty handed either. 

"Wow! Talk about an arsenal! Where'd she get all that anyway?! I didn't know Hogwarts had simi-authomatic rifles."

Ron's face was frozen in a look of terror. "H-Harry, now's not the time to be impressed by this."

"Yeah, but still you got to wonder how--"

**__**

KABOOM!! 

A large hole was made behind Harry's head where a wall used to be. Note: Used to be. Now it was nothing more then a charred pile of rubble and stones. It seemed Myrtle had attained some hand-grenades as well.

Harry's eyes widened until they were nearly popping out of his skull. "Uh, yeah. We should probably run now," he stated to Ron.

Ron gave him a 'No-shit-ya-think?' look and on the count of three (actually it was more on the count of one), they took off down the hallway, bullets sounding behind them as they did and Myrtle screaming: "I'll get you my Pretty! And your little Weasel too!"

"Y-You know, if I wasn't so terrified, I'd really resent being called a Weasel," Ron said to Harry as he puffed and huffed down another hallway (there was a large explosion to their left that sent them stumbling forward) 

"Ron, what are we going to do!" Harry said in panic. "We can't keep running forever, you know, and she's a ghost so it's not like we can go anywhere she can't follow! Besides, I really need to go pee."

"Well what makes you think I have any idea what to.... that is...." Ron's eyes suddenly lightened. "THAT'S IT!"

"What?" Harry asked.

Ron shot Harry an excited look. "Harry, man, you're a genius!" 

"Huh?"

"Come on!" Ron grabbed Harry's arm and pulled him along with him down a dark looking passageway. 

Right when Harry was about to collapse from exhaustion and a bullet clipped the rump of a large statuette of Elburta the Oddly Shaped, Ron dove with him into a doorway and slammed the door shut behind them.

"Ron, are you mad! She can go through walls! We're trapped in here! What could you possibly be think--"

Ron ended Harry's objections with a point of his finger.

Harry looked around at their surroundings and it finally dawned on him what Ron had done. "Oh."


	8. To Blow Up a Bathroom

****

Chapter 8 - To Blow up a Bathroom

__

"Don't suppose you have any brilliant ideas of how to get us out of here, do you?" - Harry Potter -

______________

Congratulations to: **King Crimson Fan On a Mac, SailorChibi, Medrelina the Weird, The Irish Wombats, Aquacutie18, Mystic Topaz, Jack Eyeforlove, Melodi, bragg247, Sword of Destiny, Merlins wing, Sword of Destiny, **&** Stacey** for figuring out where Ron and Harry went. Since I don't think any of you would actually want my brownies (God has given me the wondrous gift and art of being able to burn even that of water), you all get a hardy pat on the back and a virtual brownie to boot. *holds up a plate of virtual brownies fresh from the oven* Careful now they're hot. *sweatdrops* Hope they'll suffice. ^___^;;; *munches on her own virtual brownie* Anyway, great job, guys! And to those who didn't know: Ron and Harry went to the boys' bathroom.

_________________

It took only Harry a second to realize where they were. If the sinks didn't clue him in, then the urinal he was standing right next to did. "The boys' bathroom, huh?" he stated. He looked around at the row of bathroom stalls and the dimly lit light-fixtures above the sinks, noticing that the sink faucets were shaped as snake heads and that the majority of the room was in different shades of green. It was apparent this bathroom was meant for the Slytherins, which was comforting to him a little since, because it was Slytherin, the room was sure to have some more protection then normal rooms. "Well, I must admit, Ron, you've really out done yourself this time. Myrtle couldn't possibly go in he--"

He was cut short by an unholy shriek of rage that sent trimmers through the whole room. 

"Oh crap!" Harry tumbled back as the doorway of the bathroom shook violently. Dust and loose ceiling paint rained down on them as the entire room shuttered. It was very clear Myrtle was not happy that she could no longer pursue her prey. Harry let out a squeak of fright and fell into Ron's arms who was conveniently in front of him. He clung to the red headed boy desperately. Ron didn't seem to mind at all, and he clung back to him, letting out a scared whimper. 

It was like all hell had broke loose and was taking it's vengeance out on the little room. The walls shook; and there were several sounds of explosions going off and a round of bullets that made very noticeable dents in the doorway's tough metal exterior. The glass above the sinks ended up cracking under all the rubble that was falling around them, and a large section of the ceiling completely caved in, turning Ron and Harry white when the chalk scattered into the air... 

Over the noise, Harry shouted to Ron: "We've got to do something, Ron! If we don't, she's going to level this whole place!"

"Yeah, but what?" Ron shouted back, shielding his face from some of the debris as the walls shuttered violently again.

Harry thought quickly and brought out his wand. _"Clypeus!"_ he commanded and a thin stream of red light shot out his wand end. It expanded and zoomed around the entire room's parameter, creating a glowing shield. 

As he did, the explosions and sounds outside became muffled and the shaking died down some.

Harry relaxed a bit. "There. That ought to keep the damage to a minimum for a while..... It's not permanent though. It'll only withstand for thirty minutes at the most. Depending on how much it is hit, it may be less."

Ron uncovered his head slowly and looked up at Harry. "So what do you suggest we do until then?" he asked. 

"Well, I dunno about you, but I really need to go to the bathroom, so if you'll just hold that thought for one minute..." Harry headed for one of the stalls.

Ron reddened some. "Now is not the time for that, Harry!"

"Hey! When you gotta go, you gotta go!" came Harry's response inside the stall as the door shut.

Ron sighed in aggravation.

A little while later, there was the sound of the toilet flushing and Harry came out again. He strolled over to Ron but suddenly stopped in his tracks as he noticed something. His face transformed into a look of confusion. "Hey, Ron, doesn't it seem.... _quiet_ to you?" he asked.

"Hm?" Ron stared at Harry then realized just what he meant. "Oh....yeah...." His eyes widened. "It does." He cocked his ear towards the doorway to listen. 

Myrtle had stopped making noise for some time now. Ron had been so preoccupied with other thoughts that he hadn't noticed. He waited and listened, but the silence was eerie and nothing happened. Harry shot him a look of apprehension, which he returned. 

"Stay here. I'm going to check it out and see what she's up to," whispered Harry to him with a brave glint in his eye. 

Ron gave him a glance of worried but nodded in understanding anyway. 

Harry tip-toed towards the bathroom door that now looked more like a lumpy, battered piece of metal then a door since so many bullets and explosions had hit it. He made a mental note to put a few more shielding charms on it after he was done investigating, just to be a little safer. Bending down on his knees, he leaned towards the keyhole in the door and peered out through it cautiously. It took a while for his eyes to focus to the lighting, but when they had he was able to make out Myrtle. She was still there and wasn't by any means giving up either. He watched as she piled another stick of dynamite against the door, adding to an already large pile. An insane grin was on her face as she stacked the dynamite one by one on top of one another. Behind her was enough explosive power to blow up... well, actually Harry wasn't sure how much explosive power it was, but he was sure that it was more then enough to do in the Slitherin bathroom. _Plus the rest of the corridor, maybe, _he thought grimly.

Myrtle's head suddenly snapped up as if sensing Harry's presents. She looked sharply over towards the keyhole, but Harry was quick and retreated before she could see him. 

"Well?" Ron hissed as Harry fell back to where he was by the sinks.

"Uh...." Harry got out his wand and muttered: _"Tego!"_ with it pointed at the door. Another barrier was added to the shield, making the color flash from red to vibrant pink.

Inferring that this meant bad news, Ron reached for his wand too. "Not good, huh?"

"Nope. Not really," Harry stated. "Don't suppose you have any brilliant ideas of how to get us out of here, do you?"

Ron stared at him blankly. "You mean you don't?" he asked in growing horror.

Harry opened his mouth to answer, closed it, and then cursed loudly.

__________________

****

"Enervate!" 

Ginny woke up with a start. Her eyes popped open and she found herself staring up at a large nosed man with a liberal amount of greasy hair cascading down his face. He had a very sour look on his face and was certainly not the most pleasant thing to wake up to, which was probably one of the reasons why she screamed and bolted up and away from him into a bush.

"Ten points from Gryffindor," Snape snapped coldly. "Now shut up and get out of there now."

Wincing as the branches cut into her arms, Ginny did as she was told, shaking all over like a leaf. _Snape?_ She had been found by Snape! How long had she been unconscious anyway? It couldn't have been too long, judging by how bright it still was outside. It wasn't past noon anyway. And what about the Sorting Hat? Ginny looked franticly around the area until she found the frayed old Hat laying still in the grass, acting completely like a hat should: not alive. 

Had she dreamed it all up then? Somehow Ginny wasn't too sure. The ordeal just seemed too real. 

She picked up the hat from the grass and dusted it off some. She looked back up and found that Snape was still watching her. "Well?" he demanded.

She was tempted to say, _Well, what?_ but restrained herself. "What do you mean, sir?"

"I'm waiting for you to tell me what you're doing here," Snape stated, annoyed at her attempts to play dumb.

"Uh, well, I had to bring Professor Dumbledore the Sorting Hat, remember?" Ginny said, holding the hat up to him as proof.

Snape's eyes narrowed at the hat. "Then why were you here unconscious on the ground?"

Ginny opened her mouth then closed it, and she lowered her head away from Snape. Her gaze trailed guiltily to a flowerpot nearby to their left. "Umm." 

__

I had sunstroke? she thought to herself. No, that wouldn't work. _I was attacked by Dementors and fainted, maybe? _No, that was even worse! No matter what she did, she was trapped on all sides. In desperation, Ginny tried the only thing she could think of:

"Um, I...was.... sleepy and wanted to take a nap?"

Snape's lips thinned. "Hn," was all he said, his face giving little to no doubt to Ginny as to what he thought of _that_ reason.

__

Ok, well if that excuse didn't work then I'd better.... **"Ack!"** Ginny was sharply pulled back right as she was about to make a bolt for it and was dragged by Snape over to his side by her shoulder. She tried to resist, but the Potions Master's hand was clasped too tightly on her. "**Please,** Professor, let me go!" Ginny begged. "I-I didn't mean to, honest! It-It was all a big misunderstanding! Please, I don't want to go to Azkaban! You've got to believe me!" The words were spilling out before Ginny could constrain them. This always happened when she was in panic. She couldn't help it.

Snape arched an eyebrow, taking no notice of her struggles. "Azkaban?" he said in surprise. "And here I thought you had just something minor." An evil smirk, that he was oh, so good at, crossed his face. "Well, Ms. Weasley, I think it's about time we go see Professor Dumbledore and settle this matter." 

Thin streams of tears were falling down Ginny's face. She closed her eyes to try to stop them in vain. The trauma of all that had happened had been too much for her. With Harry and the Love Potion, Dumbledore and Sprout, the Hat, and now the prospect of being sent to Azkaban looming in her mind, she just couldn't help but cry, especially when she thought of Harry. She was too late to save him. Breakfast had ended two hours ago. He was bound to encounter a girl by now. The idea of him being fondled by another girl was just icing on the cake to Ginny. Even though she knew Harry had no remote interest in her, she couldn't help but like him anyway. Those brilliant green eyes, unruly black hair, she liked everything about him right down to his knobby knees. She wanted nothing more then to....

Her eyes suddenly snapped open. _Wait a second...What did Snape just say? _

The tears stopped in an instant and Ginny looked up. Horror and fear was etched completely all over her face. "D-D-D-Did you just say we were g-going to see Dumbledore?" she asked Snape.

Snape gave her an annoyed glance and tugged her with him as he headed towards the Greenhouses Ginny had previously fled from. "That's Headmaster Dumbledore to you, Ms. Weasley, and yes, that is what I said."

"Oh, sh-"

"Language."

"Crap!"

Snape looked at Ginny in mild surprise. "Problem?"

"Professor," Ginny said earnestly. "I know this is going to sound odd, but I'm **pleading **with you: _Please,_ don't go get Dumbledore! Y-You don't want to see him right now. _Trust _me!"

"Scared now, are you?" Snape asked with a sneer. 

"Uh, no. I--"

Ginny fell silent as they arrived at the doorway to Greenhouse Three. She bit her lip and fought like a wild thing to get free. _No! No! I've got to escape!_ she thought franticly. She almost considered biting Snape's hand but stopped herself. Snape, as usual, didn't consider knocking and reached for the door handle, only expelling a little effort in keeping Ginny from running away.

The door crept open slowly and Ginny felt the breath catch in her throat. She cringed and quickly averted her eyes, not wanting to go blind. 

Seconds ticked by and nothing happened. Ginny's curiosity at got the better of her, and she opened one eye to look into the room.

Her jaw dropped at what she saw. 


	9. The Secret Tunnel

****

Chapter 9 - The Secret Tunnel

__

"Damn nag of a Hufflepuff." - Serverus Snape - 

****

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

________________________

Time was ticking by very slowly.

Harry had been doing nothing for the last fifteen minutes but pace the floor back and forth in front of Ron, who was starting to go slightly dizzy by watching him. 

"Could you please stop that, Harry?" he asked irately from the ground he was sitting cross-legged on. He leaned back against the bathroom stale door behind him and folded his arms. "You're giving me a headache," he complained.

"Ron, we have more important things to worry about then that," Harry snapped, giving the redhead an annoyed look without slowing his pace. "Myrtle's going to blow up this bathroom and us with it too if we don't think of something fast."

"But I already thought we had established that we couldn't think of anything?"

"Ron!" Harry stopped and gave his best friend a shocked look. "Don't say something like that! You can't give up on me yet! Not after all we've been through. Remember our first year with Quirrel? And what about the Chamber of Secrets and Peter Pettegrew? We survived them didn't we? Don't you think that to die now would be an insult to all that?" Ron shrugged half-heartedly. "And what about Hermione?" Harry prompted. "You don't want to die here and leave her behind, do you?"

Ron stiffened. "Well, of course not, but...."

"Then that's why we've got to get out of here! We can't die now, especially in something as humiliating as a bathroom."

"That would be rather embarrassing; you're right about that," Ron said in agreement. "But--" Ron suddenly paused. "Hey, hold on here a minute! I just remembered something." 

"What?" 

A dark shadow descended on Ron's face. His features turned cold, and he got to his feet. "There is still a little matter I need to talk to you about, Harry." His voice was casual, but there was definitely a hidden rage behind it. "It's a matter that has to do with me walking in on you and Hermione by the Great Hall. You were having a snog-fest on the floor if I'm not mistaken....." His voice trailed off as silence fell between them. 

Harry was suddenly very still. His mouth fell half-open. He had forgotten about that instance and also that Ron still didn't know about the potion. Harry didn't very much want to tell Ron about it at that moment when, within a few more minutes (a half-hour at the very most), they were going to be blown to kingdom come. It seemed like a very bad way of wasting their time, but by the look on Ron's face....

"You know, now might not be a great time to talk about this, Ron," Harry attempted.

"Oh, I think this is a perfect time," Ron stated with his eyes narrowing. "I'd like to sure know what you and Hermione have going on between one another. That way, when I die, I can know whether or not I want to come back as a ghost and haunt Hermione for the rest of her life or to just kill you now before we explode for being a cheating, back-stabbing jerk with my girlfriend."

Harry was slightly offended. "You know as well as I do that Hermione would never cheat on you, Ron. She's too noble for that, and you'd think that you've known me long enough to realize that I would never do something so awful to you either, even if you are a jackass on most occasions."

Ron's eyebrows shot up. "So what's your reason then?"

"Ginny."

"Ginny?" Ron's face transformed to surprise. "What, have you been snogging with her too?"

A sudden heat rushed into Harry's face. "What?" he shouted indignantly. "Why, I... No! Of course not! What would I snog Ginny for? She was the one who got me into this predicament."

Ron was confused now. "Ginny got you into this predicament? And how, pray tell, did she do that? Twisted your arm and made you go over and roll around with Hermione, did she? Somehow I strongly doubt that considering she fancies the pants off you and would never want another girl so much as touching you."

"**NO!** That's not it at all! I... huh?" It then hit Harry what Ron had said_. Ginny fancys the pants off me?_ he thought in wonder. This was news. He had always known Ginny had had a crush of some sort on him in his second and third year at Hogwarts, but he had never thought much of it. He had figured that after so long she would have gotten over him by now. If he weren't so upset about the potion, Harry would be seriously flattered. But to get back to matters.... "Alright, listen, Ron, ok? Because I'm only going to say this once as we are momentarily a little short of time." Harry caste the door behind them a nervous glance. "Ginny accidentally gave me a love potion that seems to make girls of any kind somehow totally attracted to me. It's rather a complicated story, but rest assured I had no idea it would affect Hermione the way it did. She was on me before I even knew what happened."

Ron was not convinced. "Ok, so let me get this straight, you're saying that Hermione was affected by a potion that made her totally attracted to you? I thought those type love potions were illegal."

"Yeah, they are, but Dumbledore was using the potion to show some of his seventh years in Defense against the Dark Arts. You know he's right now the DADA teacher. Ginny was bringing it to him from Snape and accidentally was intercepted by me, who drank it without realizing what it was."

"Yeah right," Ron muttered. "You're just plain barmy if I ever thought it. Next you're going to be telling me this so called potion's an Amorae Potion and that it's--"

"Wait, how'd you know that's what it's called?" Harry interrupted.

"Huh?" Ron gapped at Harry. "You're.... You're joking, right?"

"What do you mean?" Harry asked curiously. "And how come it's always me who never knows about these things anyway? All the people I've met knows about this stupid potion but me. It's getting really annoying!" 

Ron looked frantic. He grabbed Harry's shoulders and shook him. "Harry, please don't play games with me right now. Just tell me truthfully, did you really get infected by an Amorae Potion?"

Harry blinked in confusion then nodded slowly. "Is that bad? he asked cautiously.

Ron smacked his forehead. "Is that bad, he says! Harry, you just got infected with an Amorae Potion!"

"Yeah, tell me something I don't know."

"But you don't understand. The Amorae Potion is one of the single-most worst potions in all time. The consumer will become completely irritable to anyone of the opposite sex. Every hour he is infected with the potion, it's powers increases, and he will become more and more desirable until there is no way of stopping it. Harry, if what you're saying is true, you've got a lot more things to worry about then just You-Know-Who trying to kill you and all."

Harry gulped. "But there's a cure for it, right? I mean, every potion has an antidote to it."

Ron looked doubtful. "If there is, I've never heard of one."

Harry made a sound of great dismay and plopped against the stone wall at the very end of the bathroom. "Tell me, could this get any worse?"

"Well," Ron said thoughtfully. "We're right now missing Divination...."

"Oh, shut up, will ya?"

"Sorry." 

Harry rolled his eyes. "Right. So do you believe me then?"

"Um, I guess so.... It's nice to know that Hermione was faithful before I die. Unless.... I don't suppose you have any ideas of what are we should to do, do you?" 

"Pray," Harry muttered without looking up. "It never hurts to pray."

"Er, I was.... kinda hoping for something better then that, actually," Ron stated lamely.

Harry shrugged. "Why don't you think of something? You are the one, after all, who brought us in here."

"Hey!" Ron protested loudly. "You better not be blaming this one on me." 

"I'm not blaming anything on you," Harry said calmly. "I was merely stating a fact. You just infer too much."

Ron crossed his arms and scowled. "Yes, well, I certainly can't think of anything to get us out of here, unless you want to start shouting for help and hope one of the teachers hear us before Myrtle ignites the bombs."

"No good. All the teachers will be in their classrooms right now. Plus, we don't really want to piss off the crazy, lust-filled ghost, now do we?" was Harry's cool, logical reply.

"Well, what about a distraction," Ron tried. "You could distract Myrtle while...."

"Do you think I have a deathwish?" Harry snapped.

Ron flustered. "Well, what does it matter, Harry? We're both going to die anyway!" he yelled.

An odd looked crossed Harry's face. His left eye started to twitch and his eyebrows knitted together. The last tiny bubble of sanity that had been left in him suddenly gave a very loud 'pop' in his head, and all calmness and reason remaining disappeared quicker then it would take Neville Longbottom to forget a key ingredient in a potion. "I," he began in a strained voice. "I**.....I am not going to die in here!" **

Ron quickly backed away from Harry in surprise as the raven-haired youth leaped up from where he was seated with a maddening glint in his eyes and balled his fists. "I can't! I just can't die in a place like this!" he exclaimed. "I'm the Boy Who Lived, damnit! I'm the guy who defeated Voldermort, what, three times now! To die now would be humiliating! I would never be able to live it... wait; I'd be dead so I couldn't very much live it down, but.... Oooow!" Harry threw his arms up and began to pound the wall behind him hard in anger. "It's not fair! It's just not fair!--"

As he was proclaiming this, his fist made solid contact with a group of bricks to his right and, to his surprise; they fell in on immediate impact. The wall suddenly gave a mighty rumble as the punched in bricks started glowing, and below the two boys feet a passageway rose from the floor, becoming wider and longer until it was a good seven feet high and five feet wide. Harry blinked, shocked at the doorway standing conveniently in front of him and Ron. "Ok, now that's just totally wrong!" he stated.

"Oh for Pete's sake, Harry, don't complain! Let's just get out of here!" Ron said in irritation. He frowned and then asked: "So are you going to go in it first or me?"

Harry reached for his wand in his pocket and took it out. "Uh, I'll go first, I guess," he said. 

With a whispered _Lumos_ from both of them, Ron and Harry entered the dark tunnel in the boys' bathroom wall with Harry in the lead. It was a narrow tunnel with stale, dusty air. The glows from their wands sent eerie shadows on the cobwebbed walls beside them as they crept slowly along them. 

Soon the light from the bathroom started to fade behind them slowly when they got further down the path until it completely disappeared as they turned a corner. Harry and Ron's eyes met in the dim lighting and they nodded to each other. At once they sped up a little bit and ran down the tunnel, both of them feeling the pull of urgency on them, like a prick in the back of their necks. 

Only a little while later behind them, there was a sudden bang. Then an ominous roar came, and the whole ground began to shake underneath Ron and Harry's feet, growing from a tiny trimmer to a mighty earthquake. A cloud of dirt and dust rushed towards them from the direction of the bathroom, causing the teens to raise their arm to shield their eyes. The increasing shaking set them off balance, and they both stumbled back, tottered, then fell to the ground, thrown by the force of the impact. They rolled over and covered the back of their heads as the deafening sound from a explosion rattled through the tunnel causing rubble and debris to fall down all around them. 

"Blimey!" Ron shouted over the noise. "I hope she didn't blow up the whole hallway!"

Harry nodded dumbly in agreement beneath his arms. 

They waited a little longer until the shaking lessened into a small vibration in the ground before getting shakily to their feet. 

"We'd better go," Ron said after he had gone to go take a look a little ways off at the area where the bathroom had been. The light was completely gone and the dust and dirt made a thick screen in Ron's eyes, inhibiting any hopes of seeing what all happened to the bathroom. He doubted there was much to see anyway.

Harry picked up his wand again and shown the light ahead of them towards the unknown tunnel way. "I guess we have no choice but to continue down here," he said. "Let's hope it leads us to somewhere where I can get some help."

For some strange reason, Harry felt that someone was laughing at him when he said that. 

_________________________________________

Ginny swayed on the spot and would have probably fallen over again if it weren't for Snape, who leveled her out. He shot her an annoyed look until he noticed how pale she'd gotten. He frowned and looked back up at Dumbledore. "Hello, Professor Dumbledore," he greeted. He dragged the obstinate Ginny with him inside the Greenhouse.

Dumbledore whipped a bead of sweat off his face and leaned against the large, clay flowerpot next to him. "You need something from us, Professor Snape?" he asked politely as Sprout emerged from one of the many rows of Mandrake plants. She was lugging behind her a rather heavy looking plant with funny little red flowers shaped much like that of muggle light bulbs perturbing all around it. The plant was a good two feet high above Ginny's head and look to her to be a lot like a palm tree, only without the palm leaves and coconuts.

"Alright, this is the last one we've got to transplant and we're done," Sprout announced breathlessly as she paused for a brief rest next to Dumbledore. 

"Oh good," Dumbledore said with a relieved smile. He rolled up a sleeve of his wizarding robe that had fallen down his arm and looked over at Professor Snape then Ginny, who was standing, opened mouth, staring at them. "Perhaps you and Ms. Weasley will be willing to assist us, Serverus?"

"But.... what.... are those?" Ginny asked in a choked voice as she was still getting over the shock of her mistake in thinking that Dumbledore and Professor Sprout were.....well, never mind that. 

Dumbledore seemed pleased at this question. "Why, they're Yama trees, Ms. Weasley." He patted the trunk of the tree Professor Sprout had brought over. "Fearful things, these Yama trees are. You see, they repel all forms magic around them and make it impossible for any magical creatures to use their powers properly when under their influence. They make very important potions for subduing dangerous magical creatures or criminals. One drop from the potion made from this tree's sap, and it will render the victim as helpless in using magic as a five-year-old muggle. Pretty neat, don't you think?"

"Oh, so is that why you and Professor Spout are doing this all manually?" Ginny asked.

Dumbledore nodded. "Yes ma'am."

"And.... And that's all you two've been doing in here?" Ginny asked hesitantly. "You've..... done.... nothing else?"

"Well, we did have a cup of tea before we started if you want to be technical," Dumbledore stated amicably. "But come, best get to work. You go over there and help Professor Sprout, Ms. Weasley. Serverus and I will take care of the pot."

And so, for the moment, Ginny's detention assignment Snape was planning and her needing to save Harry was taken from both the professor's and student's mind as they went over and helped in taking out the extremely heavy plant from it's old pot that it was by far out growing and putting it into a newer, larger one. 

"Ow! Do be careful where you put it, Serverus. The roots are extremely delicate," Sprout piped furiously at Snape as he and Dumbledore struggled to level the giant plant into its pot gently.

"Sorry, Professor Sprout," Snape apologized meekly before muttering under his breath. "Damn nag of a Hufflepuff."

"I heard that!"

"Oops, I mean, sorry."

"You know I could always do with some help with the Venemous Tentacula. It's been having a rather nasty toothache for three days now." 

Snape paled under the threat and laughed uneasily. "Funny one, Professor."


	10. Spiders & Spats

****

Chapter 10 - Spiders & Spats

__

"This coming from the guy who chases Veelas in his spare-time?" - Harry Potter -

****

A/N: This chapter is dedicated to **RiddleStar** who was my 200th reviewer. ^___~

_________________

"I'm tired," Ron complained for the third time in the last half-hour. 

Harry shot him an annoyed look over his shoulder before concentrating back on the path ahead of them. The tunnel had gotten a lot narrower now, making Ron and he have to walk in single file. Harry was beginning to feel a slight case of claustrophobia creeping over him. He raised his wand a little higher; wishing the light glowing at the tip was brighter. He was starting to feel anxious that they were never going to get out of there.

Suddenly there was a high-pitched scream behind him that nearly made him drop his wand. 

"What? What is it?" he asked quickly, turning around and shining his light at Ron.

Ron looked whiter then a sheet and was pointing a shaky finger at something near him on the wall, stuttering. 

"S-S-Sp...Sp....Spi...."

"Yeeees?"

"Spi-...Spi- **Spider**!" Ron squeaked out at last.

__

Oh for the love of..... Harry resisted the urge to slap his face in frustration and followed the direction of Ron's pointing finger. He located the offending creature which was at the moment preoccupied with spinning a web in between a rusty piece of chain hanging from the wall and the low ceiling above them. 

Ron had a look of utter horror etched on his face. Harry thought he might actually faint soon. 

"Ok, I see it. I see it," he soothed. "Keep your hair on, Ron. It's just a tiny little spider after all." 

Even though he tried, the annoyance couldn't all escape his voice. Maybe it was the fact Harry had nearly died in a bathroom explosion caused by a lustful ghost that was being controlled by an illegal love potion but he was starting to feel a little irritable, and Ron's arachnophobia certainly wasn't helping it any. "Here, give me your shoe," he said, motioning to Ron. 

Ron's teeth were chattering and his eyes had become unfocused. He didn't move or respond to him. 

Harry frowned and carefully passed his hand in front of Ron's face, trying for any reaction. He got nothing.

"Great," he muttered to himself, putting his hand back down. 

Pulling it off, he took his own shoe in hand, wincing at the cold stone floor on his feet, and aimed for the spider on the wall. 

A slight pang of guilt struck him for killing something even as small as a spider, but he shook it off reminding himself that he had more important things to think about.

Harry aimed and with a great 'THWAP!' his shoe flew down and hit the spider. He twisted it around some to make sure it was dead before he raised the shoe back up again. 

"There, you happy?" Harry asked to Ron. 

But Ron was still looking terrified. 

"What now?" he demanded irately, until he noticed a black dot moving on the wall still in the corner of his eye. He turned back around and spotted it again.

__

What in the... 

Harry's eyes widened. He had missed it somehow. 

Harry watched as the same spider scurried down the wall near Ron's and his feet. Frowning, he took aim again and struck at the spider for the second time only to miss once more as the spider changed directions at the last minute, heading up the wall again. 

"Hold still!" he ordered the spider while trying to hit him again, but the spider paid no heed to the request and continued to evade Harry's attempts to squash him. 

Meanwhile Ron was growing steadily more fearful. Seeing the spider in one place was enough for him, but now it was crawling all over the wall. 

Harry started cursing and hitting at the spider like a madman, but every time he was too slow. 

The spider swerved to it's right and then, in an attempt to get away; the spider crawled up and onto the shoe. Harry jerked back his hand with a snap of his wrist. The great movement caused it to fall off, and it went sailing thought the air... 

Right onto Ron.

"Uh-oh."

**__**

"EEEEEEK!" was the all to distinct shriek from Ron, who snapped out of his state of immobility in an instant. He started dancing around the room in absolute horror, screaming and crying at the same time. 

Harry found himself using the same string of profanities that Snape had uttered when Neville Longbottom had melted the bottom of his fifth cauldron last week in potions. That's not good, he thought to himself while attempting to avoid Ron's flaying fists, I'm borrowing words from Snape now. 

**__**

"EEEAAAHHH!!! KILL IT! KILL IT! KILL IT!" Ron started shouting while going into mad hysterics, and with a single leap, he threw himself into Harry's arms.

Meanwhile, the spider fell off Ron in the confusion and landed onto its back on the floor. It's eight legs twitched around in a bewildered, tangled manner.

"Erm, Ron?" Harry tried to pry Ron's tight hands away from him, feeling very awkward. "Ron? C-Could you stop that? You're making me uncomfortable.... AH! Hey, now! Stop tha- OAF!" Harry was cut short by Ron's elbow knocking his glasses above his face and hitting him in the eye as the tall red-head scrambled up him, hanging on him like he was some sort of weirdly made perch. 

Ron looked down on the floor at the spider and its fast moving legs swinging at the air around it. The sight of it raised a flood of panic in him even more and he climb higher in the not-so-awaiting arms of Harry's. 

The effect of it all ended up making both of them look very, very, very ridiculous. But, on the plus, it did also induce quite a few Slash-lovers to 'ooww' and 'aww' at the "adorabliness" of the two's predicament in the process, though neither one felt that this was in anyway and 'adorable' experience (mainly since Ron was too petrified to care or notice, and Harry was too occupied getting Ron's elbow out of his eye and readjusting his glasses). 

"Alright," Harry said loudly as he craned his neck to loosen it from Ron. "That's it, Ron. We're getting out of here."

Wobbling, Harry started taking quick steps down the tunnel away from the spider, attempting to go in a fast jog. It was slow work since Ron wasn't exactly the lightest person on the planet and kept on twitching and moving around while bawling in Harry's neck. Shinning his wand with his hand while still attempting to hold Ron, Harry tried his hardest to watch where he was stepping. 

During his run, the dark around them began to lighten some. Instead of pitch black, it was starting to get a dark gray. Hope rose in Harry right as he legs was about to give underneath him. 

"I think we're about to the end, Ron," he stated excitedly to the now still best friend in his arms. 

"Mmm," came the sleepy answer of Ron's. 

"Are you falling asleep?" Harry asked with a start, looking down at Ron as he started nestling in his shoulder.

"...Maybe," Ron muttered drowsily. "Your shoulder's awful comfy, Harry, did you know that? I'm starting to get why Ginny likes you so-- YAH!"

Harry dropping him cut Ron short. He vainly tried to catch himself before hitting the ground but failed and landed in a heap ungracefully on the floor. He rubbed his bottom in a pained manner and glared up at Harry. "Hey! What'd you do that for?" he demanded in irritation. 

"I am in no mood to be teased right now, Ron," said Harry, looking murderous. "And since you're apparently back to normal, you can walk now."

Ron raised his hand in an innocent expression. "Hey, chill out. It was just a little joke - to lighten the mood, you know?"

"Lighten the mood? I just spend the last ten minutes carrying your sorry ass through this stinking tunnel because of your idiotic arachnophobia! If you wanted to 'lighten' the mood, you should have not jumped on top of me, or at least lost a few pounds before doing it."

Ron looked offended. "Are you calling me fat?" he demanded.

"Well, you're bloody well not skinny!"

Ron went red. "And what did you expect? With arms like that, you could barely pick up Hermione!"

"I'd rather pick up Hermione over you, and my arms are fine. I work-out more then you, I'll have you know."

"Still doesn't change the fact that they're girly."

Harry clinched his fists together. "You'd better shove it, Ron, before one of these 'girly' arms swing over and knock the stuffing out of you."

"Oh, threats now? Gosh, you're becoming more and more like Malfoy, you know that, Harry? Do you think the potion will affect him too because it's very apparent he has a thing for you - girly arms and all. Maybe you and him will become an item after this. What do you think: Harry James Malfoy. It has a definite ring to it."

"I'm not gay!" Harry said defensively.

"Humph. So you say."

"Hey, who was it that jumped into my arms? It wasn't Malfoy that's for sure. If anyone's gay, it would be you."

"What are you talking about?" Ron demanded. "I have Hermione, remember? And I only did that because I was scared. I couldn't help it."

"Well, I have Cho. Or did you forget? You know, the girl I've had a crush on since my third year?"

"Of course I remember! How could I not? She's the girl you've wasted days upon days mooning over even though she has shown absolutely no interest in you ever!"

"Who says she's shown no interest in me?"

Ron gave an exasperated sound. "Harry, please, she's turned you down three times now."

"Two times!" Harry corrected with a blush. "The third one doesn't count."

"Two, three, what does it matter? She doesn't like you!"

"Tell me, when is this any of your business?"

"It's not! I'm just getting sick of seeing you hurt my little sister all the time with all your pathetic chasing after a girl who doesn't even deserve your attention."

"Why are you bringing Ginny into this all of the sudden?" Harry demanded going red. "I never asked her to have a crush on me."

"Yeah, I know that," Ron said in aggravation. "I was just trying to make the point that there's tons of girls out there that like you who are far better then Cho Chang."

Harry arched his eyebrows. "This coming from the guy who chases Veelas in his spare-time?"

Ron scowled. "That was really low, Harry."

"Yeah, well, so was you comparing me to Malfoy," Harry shot back.

Ron crossed his arms and glared at Harry.

Harry crossed his arms and glared at Ron.

Twelve minutes later....

Harry sighed and put his arms down. "So are we going to go or what?"

Ron shrugged. "Sure."

"Oh, and Ron?"

"What?"

"Would you mind not repeating what happened in here?"

Ron laughed. "Don't need to ask me twice."

The argument resolved, they both started heading down the tunnel again with Harry leading the way, holding his wand-light, but after about five more minutes the tunnel was becoming so bright he didn't even need it anymore. 

"_Nox,"_ he whispered and his wand extinguished.

Ron went up along side of Harry and pointed excitedly at a beam of light way in front of them. 

"Won't be far now. I can see the exit. Hope it leads us somewhere safe."

Harry shuddered. "Or it could lead us somewhere nasty like Snape's living-quarters or something." 

Ron copied Harry's shudder. "Please, don't say things like that. Let's try to stay optimistic here."

"That's kinda hard to do right now with four women and a cat chasing after me," Harry stated glumly.

They quickened their pace until they reached the light-source. 

Streams of light shot dimly though thin cracks along a large sort of doorway. It issued from all four sides, sending flickering patterns on Ron and Harry's faces. They approached the apparent dead-end cautiously, both hearts sinking. There looked to be no door-handle or any sign or hint of how to get in, and in Hogwarts, some doorways can take forever to figure out how to open.

"What do you suppose it is?" Harry asked Ron, who was sliding his hand in a puzzled manner over the wall.

"It feels like it's made of some sort of canvas and - ouch! There's something metal on it." He ran his fingers over a small metal strip on the doorway and pulled it up. Two more light beams - stronger then the rest - shot through from holes exactly the shape and size for a pair of eyes to look through. 

Ron gave Harry a questioning look. "Should I?"

Harry shrugged and motioned for him to go ahead.

Ron stooped over and looked through the eyeholes. 


	11. Cho ho!

****

Chapter 11 - Cho Ho!

__

'Oh, hey, great news, Harry. We've found a way out, but it unfortunately leads right into the Ravenclaw girl's dormitory. - Ron Weasley -

___________________________________________________

Snape and Dumbledore had finally succeeded in wrestling the remaining Yama plant into its new pot under the stern surveillance of Professor Sprout.

It was with a relieved sigh and a whip of his forehead with a handkerchief from his pocket that Dumbledore took a seat on the ground next to Ginny, who had sat down to rest. "I tell you, at this age, you really begin to feel it," he stated to no one in particular.

Snape, with a quick flick of his wand, conjured up a dustpan and broom and sent the items to clean up the dirt and debris left over on the floor from the task. He then tucked his wand back in his robe pocket and headed towards Dumbledore.

"So, Serverus, tell me, what reason did you and Ms. Weasley have in visiting me and Ms. Sprout?" Dumbledore asked, patting a patch of ground next to him, indicating Snape to sit down.

Ginny stiffened beside Dumbledore, whose eyes flickered curious over at her underneath their half-moon spectacles.

Snape's lips thinned and he carefully took a seat down next to Professor Dumbledore. 

Absentmindedly, Dumbledore magicked up a steaming blue kettle of tea along with matching teacups and saucers and began to pour Ginny a cup. He smiled encouragingly to her as she took the cup with trembling fingers.

Snape arranged his robes carefully around him and took the next cup offered to him by Dumbledore. "Oh, yes that." He took a sip of his tea. "Well, Headmaster, it seems that our Ms. Weasley here claims that she gave you the Amorae Potion I made you for your Defense Against the Dark Arts Class tomorrow. However, I had a distinct suspicion that you didn't receive any such potion and came to confirm."

Dumbledore looked thoughtful as he set the teakettle down in mid-air and took a quick drink from his own cup. "Hm," was all he said.

Snape watched him impatiently. "Well?" he demanded. "Am I right? Did she lie to me or not?"

"Oh, I don't think Ms. Weasley meant to lie," Dumbledore said casually. "She just didn't tell you the truth."

Both Ginny and Snape stared at Dumbledore blankly. Wasn't lying and not telling the truth the exact same thing?

"No, I didn't receive the potion you promised me," Dumbledore continued, "but then I'm sure that there is a very good reason why Ms. Weasley wasn't able to deliver it to me. Am I right?" Dumbledore's pale-blue eyes shifted to Ginny's and she found herself staring straight into the twinkling orbs. The intense scrutiny in those eyes was unreal and Ginny felt almost that every secret she had she couldn't hide from him. She swallowed hard and nodded.

"Well, then I suppose all we should do right now is to hear it all," Dumbledore said amicably, stretching his legs out and breaking eye contact with Ginny. "Go on, Ms. Weasley, explain yourself to Professor Snape and me."

Ginny looked from Dumbledore to Snape then back to Dumbledore. Dumbledore smiled benignly at her, and some of the fears that she was feeling ebbed away. Ginny looked down at her tea and took a long drink of it. It was warm but not too warm where it burned her throat and there was a sweet taste of chamomile in it with a hint of honey. It was very good. She drained half of it then brought the teacup back down on the saucer. 

Letting the heat from the cup warm her hands and give her courage, Ginny opened her mouth and the whole story of what had happened came gushing out. She didn't even stop when Professor Sprout left the room carrying a tank full of baby Dugbogs or when Snape interrupted with a few swear words and statements of displeasure ten minutes in. She just plowed on until the very end, feeling as empty as the cup in her hand when it was over. So preoccupied she had been telling the story, Ginny hadn't even notice Snape pouring something from a hip-flask he had taken from his robes into his tea for the duration of the story. 

He had a slight misty look in his eyes now and a peculiar half-smile on his face.

Dumbledore cleared his throat loudly and muttered a word. The teacups, saucers, and kettle disappeared in small puffs of blue smoke. He got up from his seat and dusted himself off of any dirt he may have gotten on him. "I must say, this is certainly an interesting turn of events."

Snape looked disappointed in his tea being gone and frowned. "Ms. Weasley's certainly put her foot in it this time," he stated.

"I don't really consider this to be Ms. Weasley's fault," Dumbledore said. "It was all an honest mistake, though a very grave one, grant it."

"What do you mean grave?" Ginny asked fearfully. "You can cure Harry, can't you?"

"Me? No, certainly not," Dumbledore said. "There's nothing I can do personally. The Amorae Potion is a very serious potion, I'll have you know. It's highly unstable and if decisive measures aren't taken right away... well, let's just say that our young Potter would probably do alright in a monastery for the rest of his natural life."

Ginny gave a small, horrified gasp. 

"There, there," Dumbledore comforted. "I didn't say that it was completely hopeless. While there's nothing I can do, I still know a way to counter the spell. It would require your assistance however."

Ginny looked at Dumbledore with tears in her eyes. "I'll do whatever you ask," she said sincerely. 

Dumbledore smiled. "I'm going to have to hold you to that, my dear."

"I don't suppose you'll allow me to subtract points from Gryffindor for Ms. Weasley lying to me?" Snape said irately.

Dumbledore gave a jolly chuckle and patted Snape hard on the back. "How about we not dwell on that for now. Here, you can go and inform the rest of the school that there will be no more classes today and for them to return to their dormitories. Ms. Weasley and I must see to finding our Mr. Potter." 

"Couldn't I go looking for Potter also?" Snape asked with his tone of voice close to that of a beg. Ginny had a strong suspicion that Snape didn't want to miss seeing what the love potion he had created was doing to Harry.

"You may look for him after you've done what I've told you if you like," Dumbledore said, giving Snape a stern look.

Snape scowled.

_____________________________________________

Ron blinked hard against the sudden brightness of light. As his eyes adjusted at last, he looked slowly around the room from the eyeholes. There was a picture on the wall in front of him and he could see the top of an old Grandfather cloak. Clearly, the tunnel he and Harry were in was high above this room. 

Ron restrained himself from shaking his head at the peculiarity of the layout of the Hogwarts castle and tried looking down below him to see just what room they were at.

"What is the three most crucial wand-movements in the beginning spell for transfiguring a tea saucer into a rat?"

"Swish up, side sweep left, and center loop."

"And what do you say if you want to turn a cup of wine into water?"

__

"Aqua bibeo."

Ron gave a start and strained to see where the voices were coming from. His eyes swept down upon a group of students arranged on beds with the curtains swept away or else on the floor around the beds. They were all studying silently to themselves except a pair of girls who were drilling each other in Transfiguration questions, sitting on two stools near the door. 

__

Ravenclaws, Ron realized as he spotted the blue bed curtains and Eagle badges on the girls' clothes. Cho Chang was one of the girls studying out loud Transfiguration while the other one was......

__

Oh, great, Padma Partil, Ron thought miserably, remembering last year's Yule ball with her. He looked around at the other girls, identifying them to be fifth years like Padma: Lisa Turpin, Mandy Brocklehurst, Su Li, and what's-her-name Morag something....

"Well?" Ron heard Harry hiss near his ear. 

He sighed in irritation. What was he going to tell Harry_? Oh, hey, great news, Harry. We've found a way out, but it unfortunately leads right into the Ravenclaw girl's dormitory?_ Yeah, right. That'd be perfect. But then again, what were they going to do? Go back? No. The bathroom would be nothing more then a pile of rubble now, not to mention Myrtle might still be there waiting. Ron shuttered. 

He took his eyes away from the eyehole and smiled at Harry. "We may have a little problem on our hands...."

Harry gave him an apprehensive look then pushed him out of the way so he could look. 

Ron held up his arms submissively and backed away from Harry. He then crossed his arms and waited. 

It took a while before Harry at last spoke....

"No....."

Ron watched as Harry's hands convulsively tightened on the edges of the picture. "NO!"

Harry flung himself away from the picture as if it was suddenly on fire. "This just can't be!" he said loudly.

Too loudly.

Ron put his finger to his lips and sharply shushed Harry. "Do you want them to hear us?"

"Ron, Cho's down there!" Harry said, looking at Ron in panic. 

"I know that, idiot! I saw her too."

"So what are we going to do?"

"I don't know! I thought you were the brains of this operation!"

"How come I'm the brains?" demanded Harry; "It's only because you're too stupid to be one!"

"Hey, who was the one who came up with the idea to hide out in the boys' Bathroom?"

"And who nearly got us blow up in the boys' bathroom?" Harry countered.

"You know what you're problem is: you're too quick to scoff other people's ideas but you never have a good one yourself."

"Me? I saved your life, you ungrateful git!"

"Saved my life! You were they one you put me in danger!" Ron yelled.

"Well, what were _you _doing chasing after me to begin with?"

"Trying to find out what _you_ were doing making-out with my girlfriend."

"We were **not** making-out!" shouted Harry indignantly. 

"What would you call it then?"

While Ron and Harry fought, the noise level emitting from their secret tunnel they were hiding in got louder and louder as their tempers raised. Cho stopped examining the flash-cards she had been drilling Padma with and peered curiously at the large picture above Lisa Turpin's bed wondering if she had just imagined the shouts of profanity coming from it or if they had been real. 

Though it wasn't like she was unused to pictures talking every once in a while, it was the first time in her recollection that a picture ever used words of such profound crudeness. Plus there seemed to be two voices coming from it and the picture only had one person on it.

"Hey, Cho, can you hear that?" Padma asked, resting her notes on her lap. She joined Cho in staring at the suspicious picture above their heads.

"Yes," Cho said, "but I have no idea what it is."

"The guys next to us maybe?"

Cho was dubious. "Padma, do you know of any of the boys in our class who uses language like that?" she asked.

"If they had been around the Slytherins or Gryffindors, maybe."

Cho bite her bottom lip thoughtfully then put her quill down. "Let's go check it out," she suggested, bravely getting up from her stool and setting her things down. 

Many of the Ravenclaw girls were now watching the picture as well. It was beginning to shake and rattle around as if something was banging against it from the wall behind it somehow. Su Li turned and whispered excitedly in Mandy's ear, who then giggled behind her hand.

Cho inched closer towards the picture, moving out of Lisa's way as she got out of her bed and huddled next to Su and Mandy on the opposite side of the picture. She stepped up onto the mattress and stood on her tippy-toes to see over the top of the bed. 

The picture violently wobbled again.

She got back down and looked over her shoulder at Padma. "Hey, Pad, can you _Wingardium Leviosa_ me towards the picture above us?" she asked.

Padma looked like she would really prefer not to but nodded anyway and got out her wand from her uniform pocket.

__

"Wingardium Leviosa," Cho heard behind her.

She felt herself gently being lifted from the bed she was standing on right towards the curtain's bar located above her.

****

BANG

"Ouch!"

"Oops, sorry, Cho," Padma apologized as Cho rubbed her sore head. She steered Cho away from Lisa's bed with her wand and brought her rising slowly above it towards the picture. 

It was a hard task. Unlike some other more complex hovering charms, the Wingardium charm took a strong force of will from the person casting it. The heavier the person was, the harder it would be to cast it. While Cho was certainly one of the lightest girls in Ravenclaw, it still took a lot more effort to lift her then the feathers Flitwick had made them practice with in Charms their first year. 

Padma was beginning to really feel the strain in her wand arm.

"Alright, I'm here," Cho announced as she came up level to the picture. She took hold of it to stop herself from going any higher. "You doing alright, Padma?" 

"Yeah, I'm alright," Padma assured her, though she wasn't quite as confident as she tried to sound. "Uh, but don't take your time up there or anything, alright?"

Cho nodded, turned, and examined the picture in front of her, noticing that the eyes of the person in it were missing. She put her ear to one of the holes and listened.

"--Why don't you just go out and say it, Ron?"

"Say it? And what pray tell am I to say?"

"That you're jealous!"

"Jealous? Me? Of you? Ha! Don't make me laugh! What have I to be jealous of? Your great grooming habits, maybe?"

"What's that suppose to mean?"

"Have you looked in the mirror lately, Harry? Your hair's positively dreadful!"

"This coming from the guy who's dating the queen of bushiness?"

"Well at least she keeps hers clean!"

"And who says I don't?"

"Oh, you clean it. About as regularly as Snape does, that is."

"So first you're comparing me to Malfoy and now Snape?"

"Well, the Sorting Hat did almost put you into Slytherin..."

"Judging by the way you've been acting, you deserve to be in Hufflepuff."

"Take that back!"

"Make me!"

**__**

BAMM

Suddenly the picture that Cho had been leaning against flew open and slammed into her. She fell back, dazed at the blow, and was nearly dropped by Padma who had to shriek out the charm again to keep her afloat. Cho did a complete circle in the air before coming straight under the hole in the wall where the picture had been. She put her arms out to stop herself from hitting the wall and ended up thrusting herself too hard away from it.

Cho had no time to recover or even time to catch her breath before it happened again. Something fell right on top of her and it was very heavy. She screamed and was vaguely aware of Padma's charm failing and feeling her body falling rapidly towards the ground. 

A chorus of voices from the girls below all at once shouted: **"Wingardium Leviosa!"** and a jolt of pain went through Cho's whole body as she came to a very abrupt halt in mid-air. _Oh-no,_ was all her brain could register before it began to prepare for impact. 

The charms had hit her hard and with the combined power of them all, there was no way to control them. The air started whistling in her ears as she and whatever had hit her shot straight into the air towards the ceiling.

__

This is going to hurt. Oh, this is so going to hurt, Cho thought to herself, only half aware that she was clinging to someone. Her only hope was that she wouldn't hit the large chandelier or one of the floating candles. The mental image of her hair on fire wasn't a very pleasant one. She wondered if Madam Pomfrey could even grow hair back if it happened.

"Stop it! You're going to kill them!" Padma yelled to the girls whose wands were still out. Quickly she brandished her own. _"Finite Incantanium!"_

Cho stopped only inches from the ceiling then started falling again. 

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"Wingardium Leviosa!" Padma yelled.

Cho stopped again and then slowly floated down to the ground, landing lightly on her back. From there, she laid still.

Cho was so very dizzy. She felt like she had just gotten off of one of those Muggle Roller Coasters. She brushed her hand shakily across the ground around her, making sure she really was no longer in the air then took the courage to open her eyes that, before now, had been tightly shut. She blinked up at the blurry faces of her friends hovering above her looking worried. 

"I think.... I'm going to be sick," she said shakily.

Everyone didn't move to comment.

"What?" Cho asked, confused.

Then she noticed that there was something on top of her. She lifted her head slightly and looked down. Black hair - a whole mess of it - met her view. Her head fell back again. "'Lo, Harry," she greeted wearily. "Comfy?"

Harry's face was red, as it appeared from in between Cho's two breasts where it had landed and stayed for sometime.

"Er...H-Hello there..." 

Harry wanted to melt into the floorboards and disappear. He remembered Ron shoving him hard and falling back against the canvas they had been looking through…. And the next thing he knew was suddenly having his nose buried deep in his long-time crush's blouse while he was sprawled out awkwardly with her on the ground. 

"I am so very sorry. I mean - that is to say - I had no idea that you were.... I mean - I was.... - Er, that is, that I was going to..." 

"You can get off me now."

Harry nodded dumbly and got quickly off of Cho, trying very, very hard to stop blushing so fiercely. His eyes kept traveling back to where his face had just been, which wasn't helping his efforts very much, so he shoved his hands quickly in his pockets and stared hard at his shoes. They were very dirty, he noted_. Cho's boobs._ Probably from the tunnel. _Booobs._ Maybe he should clean them some. _Boooobs!_ Alright. He could do this. _Boobies-boobies-boobies-boooobies! _

Harry started to silently curse teenage hormones.

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Wicker_b - Thanks for the feedback. ^^ I don't know yet if I can get Fleur affected or not. It would be very amusing if I did but also very hard to pull off, especially since she has a kind of 'love charm' of her own (being part Veela and all) that she could use on Harry if the potion affected her, and THAT would cause some definite complications somewhere in the plot line. With one love charm crossing with another, good god, it would be like a nightmare! For all we know, it could turn this story into a Harry/Fleur fic *shutter * and that would be scary.

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AgiVega - hey, thanks for the review. ^_~ I really like your fanfics. H/G all the way!

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Emily - I won't try to claim that I'm good at romance, but I'm going to try really, really hard to put a good bit of it in when Harry and Ginny meet again. It'll be a while though because they won't come together until near the end, which isn't exactly for a while yet and I also want their love to be believable. You know, not having Harry out of character. He tends to get that way in most H/G fanfics. ^_^;;; Anyway, thanks so much for reviewing! 

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RiddleStar - yep, my 200th. Aren't you so very happy (ok, maybe not…)? As for me, I'm just happy I made it to 200! Thanks for all the wonderful reviews. You have no idea how much of a review lover I am!

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Animagus - Hey, girl! Thanks for the reviews. Don't worry, I'll get down to your profile and check your stories out eventually. Thanks for all the feedback. I'll hopefully be seeing you soon. And be careful that you don't burn your eyes out of their sockets for watching too much Fushigi Yuugi. Shojo overdoses tend to do that to you. 


	12. Run, Harry! Run!

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Chapter 12 - Run Harry! Run!

(or: Ron's thirty second recap)

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I'm going to really need therapy for this when it's all over..... -Harry Potter

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Cho stared at Harry in apprehension as she got up from the ground. A strange look was on his face as if he was about to burst a blood vessel. Also he kept muttering something under his breath about 'therapy' with the mention of 'crazy cat girls'. But then she quickly reminded herself that Rita Skeeter's article said he was somewhat mentally unstable, and used it as an excuse for the diligent studying he was doing of his shoes. They were very dirty though, she noted.

Cho sighed and straightened her skirt. She dusted herself off and shifted her eyes from Harry to up above him at Ron Weasley who was looking rather bashful. His red head was poking out from the open picture on the wall.

She raised an eyebrow. "Hullo, Ron. Care to explain what's going on?"

"What makes you think there's anything going on?" 

Cho gave Ron a 'you must be joking look' that made him hastily try a different approach: avoid the question. 

"Um, don't fifth year Ravenclaws have Transfiguration with the Hufflepuffs now?"

"It was cancelled," said Cho. "McGonagall never showed up to it, so Flitwick sent me with the fifth year girls to drill them on their Transfiguration lessons in their dorm - Not that it's any of your business, really, since you and Harry are they ones who are trespassing after all."

Ron plastered a look on his face that was very reminiscent to what the twins would use when they were trying to appear innocent... needless to say, it wasn't too convincing. "Didn't show up, you say? .... How very odd of her."

"Yes, well, aren't you and Harry suppose to be in class also?" said Cho suspiciously.

"Perhaps. Perhaps... I wouldn't touch him if I were you, by the way."

Morag jumped and pulled her hand back in response to the sharp warning from Ron. She had been reaching over to Harry to tap him on his shoulder and see if he was all right. He didn't look responsive. He looked pretty out in his own world actually.

"What happened to him?" she asked fearfully, backing away from Harry.

"Er, well, you see," Ron began nervously, "Um, there sorta was this big potion thingy that Ginny gave him that made Hermione start acting all crazy-like which made me think she was cheating on me (which she wasn't), but I didn't know that until Malfoy started talking about retarded stuff which made McGonagal come and then she started acting all crazy too which sent Harry scampering off in a hurry. But what really made Harry this way were the others. 

What happened was when me and Malfoy went off after him Angelina Johnson got affected by the potion and, after narrowly escaping, Harry went scampering off again. So Malfoy and me had to go chasing once again after him which caused some massive stitches in my part, got split up until I found Harry finally. But then I got chased by Myrtle who was chucking all manners of weird things at us until I got this great idea to go into the John, but that didn't work because she blew it up, see? Fortunately though the wall opened and we got out safely before the big kabbowwy, and after a brief encounter with a spider I asked Harry not to talk about, we came here and Harry ended up with his face right in Cho's chest which is a bad thing if you ask me, but most definitely a good thing if you don't think about the potion, and how Harry's probably wanted to do that ever since he met Cho... and now you all are about to attack Harry pretty soon just like Hermione and Mrs. Norris (who I failed to mention before now) which is not going to be a fun thing for me to watch considering he's my best friend, so yeah, that's why he's a little bit crazy now. "

Ron paused his lengthy description of the events of the day to catch his breath and rest his hands since he had been using lots of jesters and expressions to emphasis the story. Everyone had very blank look on their face, all of them thinking the same thing.

And Padma voiced it for all of them. "You're as psycho as he is!" she yelled as she pointed to Harry who was still muttering rapidly to himself while continuing to stare at his shoes, with his glasses tipping precariously on the end of his nose. 

Ron stiffened. "Hey, hold on a sec," he said angrily. "I was just doing what you asked me to do. It's not my fault you don't listen."

"Riiiight," Cho said with a disturbed look. 

Padma Partil put her hands to her hips. "Listen here, you babbling git, I don't know what you're trying to pull, but you had better start talking straight for once or else I'll--"

"Ooooo."

Padma paused her talking and looked sharply at Harry. 

Harry was no longer muttering to himself. Instead, his eyes were bulging and he was bent over with his arms wrapped around his stomach in a pained manner. A low, agonizing moan was sounding from him. 

Padma pocked his shoulder roughly. 

"Hey, you, what's the matter?" she asked.

Harry's lips parted and he sucked in a deep breath through his teeth. "W-Why me? What did I ever do so wrong?" he gasped.

"Barging into the Fifth Girls' Dorm may be good for a starter," said Padma dryly.

Harry's eyes focused on the doorway behind Cho. "M-Must get.... away."

Padma snorted disdainfully. "Well, you go right ahead, but we're still going to be telling Professor Dumbledore about this, you know."

Harry didn't seem to being hearing this.

"C-Can't... stay here...," he gasped, staggering forward. "I...must.... Urg!" 

Harry suddenly collapsed down to the ground on his side; arms still crossed around his stomach.

Padma just stood there for a while and watched him writhing around at her feet. She arched an eyebrow. 

"Oy!" She, tapped Harry with her shoe lightly. "You in pain or something?"

With his left eye squeezed shut, the other opened wide, Harry started crawling in desperation towards the doorway, hissing sharply at every move he made. "What.... do....you....think?" he demanded.

"Hey, now! No need to get snappy!" Padma retorted. She kicked Harry again.

"Oaf!"

Harry shot Padma an irritated glance. Halfway through, though, his expression suddenly changed. 

"Uh-oh."

The pain that had been sheering inside him rapidly like the fires of hell suddenly quit.

He withdrew his arms from his stomach, sat up some, and stared down at his stomach. "It's gone..." he mumbled in confused fearfulness. 

And so had Padma's angry expression. Harry blinked and slowly raised his head. 

A pair of empty eyes were looking back at him. Padma's entire facial expressions were completely gone. Her mouth was slack, her brows straight, and eyelids half closed almost as if she had fallen asleep where she stood. 

It didn't take Harry long to figure out what was going to happen next. He began scooting back from where he was, glancing to his left, then to his right franticly. He spotted Ron above him, leaning over the edge of the tunnel exit watching him in anxiety, and a whimper escaped from his throat.

Padma started smiling, and with her, the rest of the girls in the room. One by one, like Padma, they're faces turned blank then changed, and, in only a few moments, six Cheshire cat smiles, promising pain and torture, were all being directed towards Harry. 

Harry backed up quicker, his legs kicking up high until his movements were abruptly stopped by something behind him. Cho's elegant brown eyes were sparkling as she stooped down over him.

Harry tried his hardest not to think about the fact that the edge of her skirt was draped over his head across his forehead, nor that if he adjusted his head just right and looked up a little bit higher....

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Must resist the temptation.... Harry screwed his eyes shut and tried to go around Cho.

Cho, unfortunately, would have none of that and grabbed his hand. 

Her hand was as soft as a turtledove's breast. The heat of the touch pulsated through Harry like the warm rays of a spring day. It felt sweet, like the first physical touch of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Like the tender sweetness of a mother cradling her child. So loving. So full of care. So---

The cheesy music in the background suddenly came to a screeching halt as Harry's brain all at once switched back to reality screaming _'danger!' 'danger!'_. He focused and noticed that someone had taken his other hand. He looked over at Su.

"Hey, Harry baby," she cooed as she stroked her plump hand along his. 

Paralyzed in horror, Harry turned a nasty shade of white followed by various mixtures of pink, red, and purple before going back to white again. 

While he had been off in his Shakespearean daydream, the Ravenclaw girls had taken the distraction to their advantage and circled around him to cut off his escape. Now he was completely surrounded by women all with expressions on their faces that would ensure nightmares for the rest of his remaining life. However short that would be now. 

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I'm going to really need therapy for this when it's all over... Harry thought to himself, deciding to disregard the more sensible side of him that was declaring he was going to die right here and now, as well as disregard the other more louder side pointing out that he could seriously take advantage of this situation with Cho.

Harry wrenched his hands away from Su and Cho and made a move to get up off the ground. He was unfortunately tacked by Padma in the process and brought back down with a muffled 'thump'.

Before Harry knew what was happening, a sea of girls were all on top of him. Faces swam in front of his vision until his glasses were knocked off in the scuffle. Then everything turned blurry and he was left fighting off as many hands as he could.

Suddenly there was a loud crash that sent a great burst of dust and feathers everywhere. Harry squinted and could make out something tall and red over by one of the beds only something was wrong with the canopy. Hope arose in him. 

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Ron?

Ron gave a heavy moan as he sat with the majority of his body buried under the broken remains of the bed he had fell on. He had believed that the canopy of the bed below the picture he had been at would support his weight if he was careful not to fall too fast, however he had failed to think about the fact that he couldn't really control the factor of gravity. 

Swinging one of his legs out of the dilapidated ruin of what used to be a bed but was now nothing but a broken-in-half pile of oak and blankets with a human-shaped hole in it's canopy, Ron got out of the bed, feeling as if every bone of his body had been hit by a van traveling eighty miles per hours with a half-dozen elephants riding in it.

"Don't you worry, Harry," he said heroically as he tried to take some steps forward. The effect of his heroism was lost, however, since he could barely form two words between his heavy breathing, and the ground refused to stay still under his feet, making him rock to and frow. "I'll save you. Just hold on."

All Harry had heard was 'Just hold on' and the statement didn't comfort him much. Just hold on? He was being attacked by a group of crazy cat-girls! The last thing he wanted to do was calmly 'hold on' until Ron finally got the motivation to help him.

Now, Harry resolved, was the time to take matters into his own hands. Now was the time for action. 

With a great feat of strength, Harry tore his arms from the iron grips of Padma and Su. He heaved himself up, sending Padma in a tumble towards Cho. Fumbling for his glasses, he griped them in his hand as he fought off the attacks of Lisa and Morag......

WHAMP!

Harry saw stars as Mandy's elbow went flying smack-dab into his face, making solid contact. Hisses of alarmed anger welled up around him as he fell back into the ground. He shook his head wearily to try and clear his head from the mini-snitches that seemed to be floating around it, and stared up at the girls, all of who's attention had been redirected to something else... or rather someone.

"N-Now I'm warning you!" Ron said shakily. "Don't try any funny business. I have a wand, and I'm not afraid to use it!"

Mandy lay perfectly still across Harry's waist. Shakily, Harry put on his glasses and examined her. He knew immediately what was wrong since it wasn't by any long shot the first time he had seen the _pretrificus totalus_ curse on someone. 

He felt along his eye delicately, betting it was turning a nasty purple and frowned. Ron really should use more discretion when shooting off curses at people, though, really, he shouldn't be complaining since the girls were off him now.

However Ron was looking a little regretful of helping him. 

"D-Don't you come any closer." He swung his wand from one person to another. 

They girls took out their own wands and Ron paled.

"Y-You know, now would be a good time for you to leave, Harry! Don't worry about me! I'll... uh, hold'em off..."

"Ron...." Harry began.

"GO!" Ron shouted.

And with POP, another curse shot out of Ron's wand. Su wobbled and fell over with her legs clamped tightly together in a leg-locker curse.

Deciding there was little to do for Ron and, going against his instinct to stay behind and help, Harry got up from the ground. Stumbling a bit, he made a break for the door, silently thanking Ron for his noble sacrifice. 

Lisa tried to stop him, but he dodged her arms and escaped through safely.

The last thing he saw before turning the corner was Ron being over taken by Padma, Morag, and Cho. His wand arm was high in the air as he desperately tried to defend himself, but Padma shouted a hex and disarmed him.

With a sinking feeling of despair, Harry sped up and ran down the stairs in front of him and through the Ravenclaw Common Room. He knew he had to find Dumbledore so he could cure him of this horrible potion, but Ron had been captured by the enemies and he couldn't just leave him there to be tortured. He had to rescue him somehow. 

A shrill whistle of approval caught Harry's attention. He looked over at one of the pictures he was going by and caught the woman in it giving him a wolfish look. 

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Man, this is getting ridiculous! he thought.

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Aahz - Why? Oh, no reason really. I just like prolonging Harry's torture is all...^____^

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Dawgh - Why does it take me ages to write a new chapter? Well, multiple reasons, really. I try updating as soon as I can, but not only does my social life and schoolwork get in the way, but also I have other stories I'm writing. This one actually gets the most attention out of all of them, so be thankful. I'll try to update more often, but it's really up to my muse more then anything else, so talk to him. *points to Frodo who's currently eating mushrooms*

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Frodo: Hmm? *confused, scared big-eyed look*

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AcidAngelTears - Hey, thanks. Yours is the type of reviews I like receiving the most. It's so heart-warming to hear that somewhere out there someone is reading my work and laughing with their friends over it. It makes me feel as if my insanity had been worth it almost.

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Shadow Phantom - Oh stop it, I'm blushing! No, actually, don't. I could do with the ego boosts. ^_~ You are definitely one of my favorite reviewers. Not only do you review my Amorae story, but you've reviewed my other fanfics. Thank you, Shadow-sama, thank you from the bottom of my corrupt little heart. I'm looking forward to the next chapter in your own Lord of the Rings/Harry Potter story

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Eleana23 - Trelawney, Pansy, and Parvati, huh? Interesting. Very interesting. I never even thought about Trelawney. Hmmm, well, I'll give you a tiny spoiler: I spy with my twisted evil eye something in the future involving one of the three. Which one? Who can tell? Thanx for the reviews. ^_~ 


	13. The Return of Myrtle

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Chapter 13 - The Return of Myrtle

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Boys can be so heartless sometimes... - Moaning Myrtle -

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A/N: Amorae's back from hiatus! Sorry for my rather long vacation. It's just that Final Fantasy X and Ranma 1/2 are so distracting..... Err, I mean, I was sick, deadly sick, and I, uh, couldn't write for a month. Uh-huh, horrible disease. Very contagious. You could catch it even now as you read this. Errr, anyway, I apologize again. Next update won't take nearly as long. I kinda, sorta, almost promise!

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Virtual Chocolate Brownies will be offered again to anyone who guesses correctly who saves Harry.... again.

Dedicated to **Dawgh** who was my **300th** reviewer

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**H**arry's appearance into the Ravenclaw Common Room raised a rather large disturbance, but he didn't waste any of his time to stop and explain to the few bewildered fifth year Ravenclaw boys and their Prefect why he was racing out of the girls' dormitory with lipstick smudges on him and half-torn off clothes. They wouldn't have believed him anyway. 

Charging between two occupied seats next to the fire and leaping over a boy's legs that were resting over a footstool, he ran out of the room towards the Ravenclaw entrance. 

Once outside, things started taking a definite turn for the worse as all of the female pictures began following him in and out of their frames giving catcalls. Also Harry didn't have the foggiest clue as to where he was. He had never been down the Ravenclaw corridor, and the only thing he could make of the place was that it was probably near the bottom of one of the towers.

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With my luck, the next person I'll meet is Snape, Harry thought bitterly.

"There he is!" a girl shrieked.

Harry turned around to see Hermione and McGonagall standing at the opposite side of the hallway. _Close enough. _Hermione's finger was pointed straight at him, and the space between them quickly started to decrease as she and McGonagall sped towards him. McGonagall could run incredibly fast for a woman of her age.

Harry quickly forced himself to forget about that and run. Run. Run. 

Dear God, this was a nightmare. If Hogwarts had a track team, he would most definitely be in shape for it towards the end of the day.

Turning down another corridor, Harry spotted and flew down the first set of steps he could find. They lead him to a more familiar hallway where the Prefect Boys' Bathroom was located. Harry resolved that it would not be best to try hiding in the loo again since Myrtle was now after him and wasn't likely to be too abashed to go in since she had done it once before. 

Above his head, there was a sudden crackling noise and a voice echoed through the school.

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'All Hogwarts residence, May I have your attention please,' Professor Snape's voice boomed_. 'I would like to ask at this time that all students return to his or her dormitories after this first period classes due to a special emergency. No one is to leave from their House under any circumstances until further notice is given. Prefects are to insure that this rule is to be enforced, and teachers are to report to the faculty room immediately. Also if there is a particular someone out there that needs assistance for a certain something, Dumbledore requests that he remain where he is. Help is on the way and he will be there shortly. Oh, and before I forget, fifty points will be taken from Gryffindor House.'_

There was another crackle then silence.

Hope once again ignited in Harry, turning quickly to annoyance at the point deduction made to Gryffindor. Like this was really all his fault! 

Well, technically it sort of was but still....

On a plus though, if Snape was asking for everyone to go to their dorms and for him to stay put then Dumbledore must know about the potion which means that Ginny had pulled through for him after all. But then again, on the negative side, his situation had to have been worse then thought if Dumbledore felt it worth ending classes and confining people to their dormitories. Then another more important thought hit him. Snape had just issued an order that all students go to their dormitories at the end of first period. Harry looked at his watch in alarm. First period classes ended in fifteen minutes. That would mean that they were all going to be going through the hallways in only a few moments which meant that...

Harry had to find a place to hide!

He looked all around the place, forcing the sick pull of panic in his stomach down. 

Door.... Door.... Lustful Ravenclaw mob..... A bit of a cord he could use to hang himself.... 

Hang on.

Harry let out a high-pitched yelp and screeched to an abrupt halt. Cho, Parvati, and the other Ravenclaw girls were all lined up on the opposite of the hallway, blocking any attempts he could take at getting around them. Harry didn't know how they had gotten there so fast though they surely knew the hallways around their common room better then he did. They gave a loud battle cry that would have sent Voldermort running for the hills and charged. Harry turned quickly around only to see McGonagall and Hermione sprinting from the corner towards him. 

Trapped on both sides, he went down the only other hallway available to him which, after a short run, turned out to be a dead end. 

Murphy's Law seemed to be against Harry as he felt along the solid stone wall in front of him franticly. He pounded his fist against it like he had in the boys' bathroom, but all he got was a hurt hand. He shook it viciously and flipped around holding it as the shouts drew nearer. He pressing himself against the wall, breathing fast.

Got to think. What was he to do? Harry fumbled through his robes and pulled out his wand with a shaking hand. He aimed it at the mob of girls and started muttering a silent prayer.

He didn't get very far though before the first stunning spell was caste.

Ducking under the powerful ray, he huddled down into a corner. His life started flashing before his eyes. Hagrid, Sirius, Hermione, Ron, his parents, Voldermort - He could see the green flash and hear the maniacal laugh of the Dark Lord again but then Ginny came to his mind - Sweet, innocent Ginny. He was wrong for blaming this all on her. She was only following Professor Snape's orders. If he hadn't of been such an idiot.....

A good chunk of the wall behind him fell on his head as another spell was shot at him. 

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Ow!

Harry held his head tightly. He was about to give himself up when suddenly grabbed from behind and pulled back. He tried to give a protesting cry, but a hand was clasped tightly over his mouth. The scent of roses met Harry's nostrils as he looked back over his shoulder and widened his eyes.

The wall had opened up behind him and someone was dragging him away into a room.

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Meanwhile back with Ginny.......

"Oh, I hope Harry's all right," Ginny said worriedly as she followed behind Professor Dumbledore, who had been complacently sucking on a lemon drop he had pulled out from his pocket. They were heading towards the Great Hall entrance where Ginny had last left Harry. "Did you ever say how long it took for this potion to take complete affect?" she asked.

"I thought I remembered reading that it took twenty four hours for an Amorae potion to take complete control of its host.... Or was that for a hair growing potion?" Dumbledore sighed wistfully. "At this age it's hard to keep anything straight anymore."

Ginny tightened her fists and tried not to get aggravated. And this is the guy people claim is more powerful then You-Know-Who? 

The corridor Dumbledore and she had been going down began to get dimmer. Ginny slowed a bit when her shoes suddenly struck water. She caught sight of a large pile of rubble and dust, and before a question could form in her mind, a sudden transparent blur sped by in front of her carrying bits of rocks and mortar. There seemed to be something strapped onto its back.

Ginny leaped back while Dumbledore calmly stopped in his tracks. "Well, hello there, Myrtle," he greeted.

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Myrtle?

Ginny remembered vaguely hearing some fifth year girls talking about a ghost named Moaning Myrtle that mopped about one of the girls' bathrooms, but she had never actually seen her. Ginny walked a little closer towards the mess the ghost was hovering around. 

"Ooh dear," she muttered, viewing the destruction. 

Instead of what used to be a bathroom and part of a hallway, there was a huge crater of debris. Bathroom doors lay broken on top of large pieces of rubble and stone. There was a sink lying near Ginny's feet and bits and pieces of floor tile sprinkled the area while a large cloud of dust with the pungent scent of Muggle gunpowder hung in the air. 

Ginny ducked a bit lower to try and escape the ghastly fumes and dust and stared avidly at Myrtle, who was dressed in full army gear. She knew some of the ghosts in Hogwarts were oddly dressed, but nothing like this. This one looked like she belonged in a Vietnam War film or something. 

The ghost raised her helmet and gave Dumbledore and Ginny a suspicious look. "What do you want?" she asked. 

Dumbledore casually flicked a piece of dirt off his robe's sleeve and looked around as if he was accustom to seeing blown apart bathrooms. "Oh, Ms. Weasley and I were just strolling along through the halls. Pay us no heed, if you please. But if you don't mind me asking, would you happen to know where exactly the men's facility and hallway went?"

"I blew it up," the ghost answered. 

"Ah."

"Is that a problem?"

"Well, it would be unfortunate to any young man around here in desperate need of a bathroom."

Myrtle shrugged uncaringly probably because she had never had to use the bathroom for over fifty years and forgot what it was like to need to go. Or else she was just being insensitive.

Dumbledore peered at Myrtle over his spectacles. "Out of curiosity, for what reason did you have in disposing of this particular bathroom? Were the others not as worthy?"

"I wasn't wanting to blow up the bathroom,' Myrtle snapped. "I was aiming for a student."

"Now that's a little more understandable, though you may have gone a bit overboard in the carry. What did the poor boy do?"

"Nothing really," Myrtle stated with a shrug. "I just wanted to kill him. That way we would never be apart." A strange light shown in her eyes. "But it seems as though he doesn't want me. I've been searching all through here and found not a single trace of him. Boys can be so heartless sometimes." A familiar mopping expression overtook Myrtle's face. She floated through a bit of the ruin then sank down onto a toilet seat sitting half submerged at an angle on the very top of all the rabble. Burying her face in her hands, she started crying pitifully, oblivious to the steam of water shooting through her head from a broken pipe behind her. 

A fearful jolt went through Ginny. "Um, excuse me," she said, taking a couple steps towards Myrtle, "but what was this boy's name?"

Myrtle jerked her head out of her hands and glared angrily down at Ginny. "What do you care?" she choked. "It's not like he would be of any interest to a little unimportant girl like you."

The harsh words made Ginny's ears go a bit red. The Weasley temper in her rose. "I don't care about whether or not I'd find him interesting. I just want to know who he was. You don't need to be so snappish about it."

In a sudden rush of wind, Ginny found herself all at once staring at a set of very cold transparent eyes. "I'd watch yourself if I were you," Myrtle warned, reaching over her shoulder to touch the gun strapped to her back, her face inches from Ginny's. "I don't have time or patience to deal with an impotent little child."

Something that must be understood about the Weasley temper is that under pressure it tends to get worse. Therefore, while most people who had a ghost threatening their life with a big gun would have the common sense to back off, Ginny Weasley did not. Instead she glared back. "Hey! Who're you calling impotent? I was just asking a simple question."

"Hn! Not only are you little, but you're stupid too!" Myrtle took her gun out and aimed at Ginny's head. "Wanna say anything else now, girlly?"

"Uuuuh...." Staring down the end of a gun barrel, Ginny realized that she had probably gone a bit too far again. 

Lucky, before things could get messy, Dumbledore stepped in and put his hand lightly on Myrtle's gun and pushed it down. His eyes were flashing as he forced a smile. "I think that this has gone on quite long enough now," he stated. "We should probably be going now, Ms. Weasley. Our Mr. Potter still needs assistance after all."

Ginny was more then happy to comply, though she didn't let it show for pride's sake. 

Moaning Myrtle gave a swift glance at Dumbledore. "Did you say Potter, as in Harry Potter?"

"Why, yes. Perhaps you know where we might find him?"

Myrtle's mouth scrunched up and her eyes started brimming with tears. The gun she was carrying went clamoring to the floor as she took off to the opposite side of the room, bawling in her hands. 

"Harry Potter," Myrtle sobbed, "is the reason I'm here right now. It was so mean of him to take off from my bathroom like he did, after he came to visit too. I don't see why he had to runaway. I was only trying to kill him."

"Kill Harry? But why?" Ginny demanded.

"Because as a ghost he and I could be together forever."

"I still don't think we're following you," said Dumbledore.

"Is it so hard to understand? When you're in love, nothing is too hard. I wanted us together, to do that, he'd have to be dead first."

Ginny gapped at the guilt-free face of Myrtle. Who knew Hogwarts had such homicidal ghosts floating around? Somehow though Ginny figured that Myrtle was not exactly the normal, run-of-the-mill Spook. At least she couldn't really see Nearly-Headless-Nike waving a gun around and trying to murder potential love interests. It made an interesting mental image however...

Ginny's eyes drifted from the weeping ghost towards a large hole in the far wall. She blinked. "Hey, Headmaster, where do you suppose that leads?" she asked, pointing at Harry and Ron's tunnel.

Dumbledore looked thoughtful. "How about we go see?" he said.

Ginny nodded, and they headed towards the tunnel entrance. She leaned in a bit, peering into it. "I can't see an end," she said excitedly. "Do you think we should follow it in case Harry went down there?"

"It would be a wise choice of action. If Miss. Myrtle really was telling to truth about her murder attempt and if Mr. Potter was really chased into this former bathroom then it's the best lead we have."

"Please, tell me the potion isn't responsible for all this."

"Actually, from what I've heard, this is a good day for Myrtle."

"You mean she's tried to kill students before?"

"Kill? Oh, no, of course not. That's all the potion's doing, but take out the homicidal factors, and everything else is the typical Moaning Myrtle."

Ginny didn't know quite how to respond to this. "Oh," she said.

"Can I come too?" Myrtle suddenly ask, appearing beside them, her face the utmost of the word 'glum'.

"You?" Ginny said in shocked disbelief. "Why, so you can have another shot at killing Harry?" 

Myrtle glared at Ginny fiercely. "I didn't ask for your opinion. I was asking Dumbledore."

"Well, Ms. Weasley does bring up a valid point," Dumbledore said truthfully. "School killings are such a nuisance when it comes to all the paperwork and forms to fill out."

"Err, well, what if I promised not to do that?" Myrtle asked.

"Then we could maybe work out a deal. We'd have to make sure that your, er, arsenal would be disposed of first though."

Myrtle fingered the grenades strapped across her chest fretfully.

"I couldn't even keep one?" she asked.

"Nope."

"Even if I promised not to use it?"

"Yep."

"Bugger," Myrtle muttered. She hesitated for a moment before unfastening her belt and laying down all her handguns. The grenades came next, then three more guns from her back pockets, an assortment of knives, a blow gun, four dangerous looking boomerangs, a bit of a chain, a whip, and a small container of silly putty.

"Silly putty?" Ginny asked, starring at the pile on the floor.

Myrtle shrugged. "I've seen it in movies."

A few more things were added onto the pile until it stood two feet above the ground.

Dumbledore surveyed the booty shrewdly. "Are you sure that's all, Myrtle? No forgotten bombs or misplaced knives?"

"Yes sir," said Myrtle innocently.

"The you wouldn't mind taking off your coat for me, would you?"

There was a pause.

"I really wasn't going to use them."

"Of course not."

Six more guns and a row of bullets were added to the pile. The whole thing was enough to make Saddam Hussein drool jealously.

"Alright," Dumbledore said cheerfully as the last bit of Myrtle's weapons was disposed of. "I guess we'd better be going then. You two will be sure to get along together then, won't you?"

"Oh, sure," Myrtle and Ginny said together before sending each other deadly glares behind Dumbledore's back.

"Good!"

They entered the mysterious tunnel with Dumbledore leading.

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Catspook – Shh! You didn't see that, alright? ^_~ It was aaaaall in your head.

**Haer'Dalis**** –** Tee hee hee, yeah I bet a lot of guys wish they were Harry. I'm not lazy though. I'd prefer the term: "motivationally deficient"

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Kei-chan – How long is the torture gonna go on for? Until I get bored, I guess. ::evil grin:: Maybe a little bit longer.

**Cleo-chan**** -** _Where did Draco the sex god disappear to by the way? _My bedroom. ^_^ (Or else he's off burning incense and candles at his Harry Potter shrine. I'm sure he'll be popping back into the story once he's done. What's a story, after all, without a hot Slytherin stalker in it?)

**Psychochick**** –** Is this the end for our poor Ronny-kins? I dunno, I haven't thought that far…. I was thinking about dousing him in hot sauce and feeding him to the wild Mary Sue's in the Forbidden Forest (Deadly things, they are. Hagrid won't even go near them) for no reason except that it would be fun, but I decided against it since the Mary Sues in the Forest only seem interested in Draco for some reason. What IS it with the blonds, anyway? I'll keep the Trelawney bit in mind as maybe a kind of alternate torture for Ron or Harry. 

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Dawgh – As long as it was an accident, I'll forgive you for all the erasing I had to do. ^_~ Just don't let it happen again. Ya know what? I want a tail too. Strange.


	14. Ferret Boy to the Rescue!

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Chapter 13 - Ferret Boy to the Rescue?

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Honestly, Potter, If I'd have know you were going to grab me like that, I'd have left you unconscious. - Draco Malfoy

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A/N: *eating happily from her pan of freshly made virtual brownies* Ah, thank [insert deity(s) of your choice here] for virtual brownies. I can't think of a better way of spending my afternoon then munching on virtual brownies, and you know what's the best part? They're all mine! Yep, not a single one of you guys was able to figure out who saved Harry. I had a lot of guesses, some ranging from Sprout to Lily to Fleur to Dean, but the only person who even mentioned the possibility of it being Malfoy was the magnificent **Shadow Phantom. **However, I am a person of compassion and kindness (or I was just guilty for making it so difficult), so I will award everyone who participated a virtual brownie. Enjoy. ^_~

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Harry struggled against the arms that were holding him fast and dragging him away. He maybe could have actually managed to break away in time before being pulled completely in were it not for a stunning spell that came flying straight for him. It hit him square between the eyes before he could so much as blink. Thrown off balance, Harry's body grew stiff, and he fell back, seeing blue. Lights sizzled around his vision and his ears rang. Everything went blurry then dark. He kept going back and didn't stop - spiraling down, deeper and deeper until he forgot he was even falling. Everything was numb, and he couldn't catch himself, just continued on into nothingness. His mouth opened in a scream but nothing came out. 

"Ahhhh!" Harry jolted forward in his seat, violently knocking his quill off the table and onto the ground. It rolled away before coming to a rest against Hermione's overstuffed book bag. She looked over at him curiously, her own quill posed in the middle of her History of Magic essay.

They were in the School Library. Ron, sitting across from them, didn't look up from the Star Chart he was examining. Every now and then he scribbled a quick note on a paper next to him. He looked unnaturally thoughtful which could only mean he was doing another predictions assignment for Professor Trelawney.

"Harry, are you all right?" Hermione asked sharply, watching Harry, who was gasping for breath, closely.

Harry was clinching his chest. His wide eyes took in the whole library- the bright glow from the floating candles above him, the small group of Slytherin sixth years in a table opposite from theirs huddled close to each other talking loudly, and the scowling face of Madam Pince watching them disapprovingly- until his gaze fell on Hermione. 

__

Hermione?!

Harry gave a frightened shout and pushed back against his chair away from her. The chair toppled over and he tumbled back, reaching for his wand.

The group of Slytherin Sixth years paused their conversation to look over at him. Madam Pince's disapproving frown changed directions. Hermione blinked blankly in confusion as Harry aimed his wand at her.

The disturbance had even brought Ron out of his mad concentration. "Hullo," he said noticing Harry and Hermione for the first time. "Something wrong?"

"Harry just drew his wand on me," Hermione stated confusedly.

"Well now, we can't have that." Ron pulled out his own wand from his pocket and pointed it at Harry. _"Avada Kedavra!" _he shouted.

"Nooo!" Harry lunged up with a shout, gasping and holding his covers for dear life. Ron - that jerk! How could he? He looked around him at the pitch-black room fearfully. Now where was he? Beads of sweat ran along his forehead as he felt beside him along the nightstand towards the lamp until he found the light switch. He fumbled a bit and turned the light on to see better. 

He knew this place. The room looked a lot like Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia's bedroom. He couldn't really remember many details since he had only seen it a handful of times and had never actually been inside it. The mattress cover looked about the same, and he remembered that they had had a small TV sitting across from the bed so they could watch late night TV. He released a deep breath he hadn't noticed he was holding until now and stretched his arms.

Something moved beside him. 

Harry's arms froze mid-stretch. With dread, his head turned towards the source of the movement right as McGonagall rolled over and looked up lovingly at him.

"Everything all right, honey?" she asked sweetly. 

The scream that followed was the loudest Harry had ever uttered.

"Honestly, Potter, If I'd have know you were going to grab me like that, I'd have left you unconscious."

Harry opened his eyes in surprise at the sound of the familiar voice, but the bigger surprise was when he realized that he was holding onto somebody tightly by the legs. He looked up to see the smirking face of Draco Malfoy staring down at him. 

A wave of revulsion swept through Harry, and he quickly let go in disgust. "I think I preferred the company of McGonagall," he stated.

"Glad to see you too, Potter," Malfoy said dryly as Harry got up on his feet.

Could this be another dream? Harry wondered. To be sure, he hurriedly pinched himself hard on the hand to see. 

"_Ow...!_ Well, that rules that out," Harry said as the top of his hand turn red, stinging painfully.

He rubbed the sore spot fiercely then glanced up for Draco only to come face to face with a bear glaring straight at him! Its claws were outstretched, long, and threatening and its eyes had murder written in them. Harry's heart leaped into his throat and the color left his face.

**__**

"Ya-agah!" he shouted. In one great bound, he leapt back away from the ferocious looking bear and right into Draco, who was knocked violently off his feet and onto the floor. The blond Slytherin crashed against a desk and saw stars for a moment when he head banged against one of the drawer handles. His fall was followed almost immediately by Harry, who landed a little more gracefully near his feet, looking stunned. 

Draco gave a sound of annoyance and propped himself up on an elbow. "Geeze, somebody sure is jumpy," he muttered. He shot Harry a withering glare before glancing up at the stuffed bear above them that had caused all the commotion. He sighed in exasperation. "Oh, for the love of -- It's only a decoration, Potter! It won't bite... well, not if you don't get too close to it. It's been dead for a long, long time."

"A decoration?!" Harry said in disbelief, fighting for composer. He stared at the motionless bear with its teeth bared. "How is a giant man-eating bear a decoration?" he demanded. 

Draco shrugged.

"A painting is a decoration," Harry rambled, "yes, or perhaps an lacy pillow or a tea train, but this, this is NOT a decoration. More like a prop for a horror house, maybe." 

"I think it's rather adorable," Draco said. He picked himself up and got to his feet. 

"You would," Harry said contemptuously as he raised also, pushing off from the ground twice before he could manage it successfully. 

Harry surveyed the rest of the room with its stone walls and dark colored furniture. It looked like a Mid-Evil hunting lodge to him, only scarier. He noted the large boar head above the blazing fireplace and the sinister looking portraits that met his gaze with sneers circled around them. One of them had a War Axe in her hands with blood along its edges and another one had fangs poking over his bottom lip. It may have been his imagination, but Harry thought that the one with the axe had brought up her hand and made a jerking motion across her neck. 

Below the portraits along the left wall in the room, was a large cabinet with a great assortment of ancient Muggle weapons. Spears, lancets, swords, bow and arrows, crossbows, and hunting daggers all with strange markings and pictures along their handles and bases were lined up inside it. It struck Harry as odd that a room, which was so obviously 'Slytherin', had Muggle artifacts in it, even if it was only weapons. 

"They're bewitched," Draco said, answering Harry's unspoken question.

"Pardon?" Harry said, switching his gaze from the cabinet to the pale faced boy beside him.

"The weapons," Draco answered, indicating the cabinet Harry had been looking at it with a gesture of his hand. "They have all kinds of spells on them. Centuries ago, Pureblood wizards used to put curses on them for fun. A few of them are made to make the owners go crazy, others burn the wielder's hands off when they used them battle, one or two of them have even caused their Muggle owners to start killing their allies. Those were back in the good old days before the 'Misuse of Muggle Artifacts' department was formed and Muggle torture outlawed." 

"Gee, what a shame," Harry said sarcastically.

"Wasn't it?" Draco said wistfully. 

Harry rolled his eyes.

"I had some House Elves bring us some lunch since it's about that time," said Draco. "It's over there on the table near the fire if you're hungry."

He pointed to a two-person table Harry hadn't noticed before near the fire with a three-pronged candlestick sitting in the middle - its candles lit and flickering. There was a tray of food laid out on top beside it along with plates, glasses, and eating utensils. The distinct scent of yeast rolls caught Harry's attention, making him realize that he had not eaten all day. Knives of hunger violently announced their arrival by sending great hunger pains up Harry's sides.

He took an instinctive step towards the food then drew back. Was this really such a wise thing to do? This was Draco Malfoy after all, Jerk of a Slytherin, bastard extrordinare. How did he know that it hadn't been poisoned or something? There was also that uncomfortable pang pointing out to Harry that eating lunch with Draco Malfoy was definitely something he had never desired to do. It was like having tea and crumpets with Voldermort and Wormtail. A bretch in the Good Vs Evil plotline. To have lunch with a Malfoy would be like betraying the side of Good he fought for.

But then again, it wasn't like he was joining the Death Eaters or something and what harm was there in eating a little bit? Maybe he would even be able to get to Madam Pomfrey quick enough to receive an antidote for whatever poison was in it. Harry gazed longingly at the food but stood his ground, unsure.

"Is there a problem?" Draco asked, studying him with interest.

"How do I know that you haven't done anything to it?"

"Because I haven't."

"You expect only that to convince me?"

"On my honor as a Malfoy then. We DO have our pride, you know, and while we may stab a few people in the back on occasion, we'd never stoop so low as to contaminate someone's food. Besides, I have no real wish to face expulsion and a one-way trip to Azkaban. The way I figure it, You-Know-Who will be coming to get you soon enough, so why waste the effort and time to kill you when he can do it for me?"

"Right..." said Harry dubiously. 

"Here," Draco said impatiently. He went over to the tray of food and began to disk out some meatloaf from one of the dishes into a plate. He proceeded to do the same for the green beans and mashed potatoes then sat down in the chair nearest the fire and took a large portion of the meatloaf and ate it. He waited until after he had swallowed it to speak: "There, you see? No skin turning green or hair falling out - It's fine. Now are you going to dig in or am I going to have the pleasure of eating it all?"

Harry was still suspicious, but the hunger eating away at his sides overrode his fears. He went over and stiffly took a seat across from Draco then reached for a plate.

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Ginny felt as if she was about to go nuts. Dumbledore, Myrtle, and she had been walking down the tunnel for the past thirty minutes and there wasn't a single sign of it ending anytime soon. What was worse was Dumbledore kept singing softly to himself over and over the school song in a key that was painfully flat, and while he sang it quietly, the tunnel picked up the noise and magnified it ten times louder.

Ginny swore that the next 'Hoggy Warty Hogwarts' he uttered was going to be his last if he didn't stop it soon, and what was worse, Myrtle was off crying again. Her dispondent sobs contrasted oddly with the jolly singing of the Headmaster.

_Oh, why is all this happening to me? _Ginny thought as she kicked fiercely at a stone in her path, sending it ricocheting off the wall and back towards her. It hit her hard in the shin causing her to curse loudly and hope on one foot. 

This seemed to cheer Myrtle up a bit. At least her sobbing stopped for a moment. When Ginny glanced back at her, she gave her a nasty look. Ginny stuck her tongue out at the ghost in retaliation before promptly stubbing her toe against a large rock that just happened to be in the middle of her path when she wasn't paying attention. She yelped in pain.

Myrtle cackled loudly at her, sending cold anger swimming in Ginny as she hopped around a bit, holding the throbbing toe in pain.

__

Anger.... rising...

Ginny clinched her teeth hard to keep from saying anything she might regret, which was good because at that exact moment the tunnel finally reached a bend. Faintly in front of them was the dim presence of a light, so slight that Ginny could barely make it out.

"Ah, it looks like we have finally made it to the end," Dumbledore said brightly.

"Yeah, but an end to where?" Ginny said grumpily.

"We'll find out in a few moments, I guess."

And so they did. When finally they arrived at the source of the light, they found, to their surprise, a half-open picture taller then Dumbledore and wider then one of the double doors in the Entrance Hall.

Ginny felt a bit of light-headedness when she allowed herself to look down at the drop in front of them and see just how high they were standing. The unpleasant fear of heights she had gripped her hard in the chest and she queasily took a step back away from the dangerous edge. 

Dumbledore, however, stepped even closer to the horribly far drop and peered down at the empty beds and the Ravenclaw fifth year girls then at the chair sitting in the very center of them room. A person was sitting in it - a boy. He had startling red hair and was asleep with his arms wrapped behind him on the back of the chair. Dumbledore could just barely make out the ropes tied around his hands. 

It didn't take him very long to figure out just who the boy was. There was only a handful of people in his school who had red hair and only four students who had hair as red as this. Since the Weasley twins always came in pairs and were never alone and the only girl of the family was currently standing right behind him, then the only person left would have to be a certain Ronald Weasley.

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Review if you have the time (Translation: review or my mini-balrog will EAT you while you sleep!)


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